


We're Like Sparks (We Are Alive)

by SereneCalamity



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments (Movies), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mentions of characters in other relationships, Threesome - M/M/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-20 05:51:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13711206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneCalamity/pseuds/SereneCalamity
Summary: Sebastian liked Jace, and that was good, because Jace liked Sebastian. But Jace loved Clary, and he was pretty sure that Sebastian liked Clary as well. Clary really wasn't sure if she was ready for a relationship with one man, muchless two.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey !  
> So another Sebclace fic !  
> I just wanted to preface this with the fact that there are going to be characters in other relationships, and those are going to be detailed, which you'll find out pretty quickly, given this first chapter.  
> End game is Sebclace though :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.

"There must be something better that we could be doing on a Friday afternoon," Jace Herondale sighed, stretching in the seat he was in, scrunching up his nose as he tilted his head to the side.

"There _are_ better things that we could be doing," Clarissa Fray grinned from where she was packing up her things behind him. They were in the living room of a house that would probably be a really nice family home—three bedroom, a spacious living room and kitchen, a bathroom and an extra toilet—if it wasn't for the fact that the whole place was used to make porn movies. Pretty much everything got sanitized at least twice a day, and Clary was thankful for that, or else she would never even sit down. "And I'm about to go and do one of them."

"Hot date?" Jace joked lightly, although curiosity was showing in his eyes.

"Something like that," Clary was still grinning, but not offering any further details.

"Aw, come on, Fray," Jace stuck out his lower lip in a pout. "It's your final day with us, and you're not going to stick around and celebrate? I'm sure we could find something that would make it worth your while." As if on queue, there was a loud, breathy, and very fake moan from the laptop that Jace was playing the recently filmed video through, and she let out a laugh.

"Strangely enough, I don't actually want to stick around here any longer than I need to," Clary lifted her eyebrows as she looked around. "Anyway, we're going out later on tomorrow night..." she sighed and her nose wrinkled. "You're getting out of here soon, right? You are _way_ to good to be stuck doing this shit for much longer."

"I just need to save up a bit more money, to make sure I've got enough to get me by if I have a dry spell at work," Jace replied, an answer that Clary knew all too well.

The two of them had met three years ago, both in their second year of college. Jace was getting a degree in videography while Clary was getting one in photography. They had a mutual friend—Isabelle Lightwood—who had introduced them at a party, and they had screwed that night in Isabelle's brothers bedroom, given Alexander Lightwood was out of town that weekend. They had actually ended up becoming pretty close, given their degrees kept in the same part of the university, and a lot of their classes were at the same time, so they had lunch together three times a week. Once they had finished, Jace had moved into Clary's home that had been left to her by Valentine Morgenstern when he had passed away the year before. They didn't really have a friends with benefits relationship, because since the first time when they had slept together, they had only been together twice since then. Jace had had a girlfriend for almost ten months, while Clary was more than happy living up the single life, working her way through both men and woman, owning her sexuality.

Jace had been introduced to Victor Aldertree by one of the girls he dated for a weeks, she was stripping nights in the weekends to help pay her way through college. Some of the other girls at the club also did porn videos, and the director, Victor, said that he needed a new camera guy. Jace had come in, done a few shots, and Victor had liked him. A few months later, Victor had asked if he knew any photographers who were looking for some easy money, to take a few shots for promotional purposes online and for some magazines he was associated with.

Clary had no qualms about it, it was easy money, only required a couple of hours work, and since Jace was there, the two of them could work together. The men and woman who starred and the videos were mostly cool as well, and Clary had become close with Kaelie Whitewillow, even going home with her a couple of times.

But it had been a year and a half now, and since graduating with their degrees, both Jace and Clary had been managing to find more work that they actually wanted in their fields of expertise. Careers in the arts were hard to come by, though, and with so many people in the same field, sometimes months could go by without a job. Jace had a job with an advertising agency, where he did work three days a week, and it was good, but until he got promoted to full time, he was going to keep working for Aldertree Firms.

Clary, on the other hand, had taken a photo that had taken the art world by storm, and she had even managed to get it featured in a prominent art gallery in New York. Jace, along with Clary's, best friend, Simon Lewis, and Isabelle had all gone to New York for the opening night, and back in the hotel that night, had been third—and most recent time—that they had slept together. She had been tipsy, and she had been so _goddamn beautiful,_ still in complete disbelief that she actually had one of her photographs as the centre piece of an art show.

Jace had been so proud of her, and his jaw still ached the next afternoon, given how long he had spent with his mouth between her legs, making her come over and over again, wanting to show her just how proud he was.

Offers had flooded in after that for Clary, and so she had given Victor three weeks notice, and next week, she was going to be doing a fashion shoot, for a big magazine that Isabelle had been addicted to for years. The amount that she was getting paid for it was about four weeks of pay for Jace, and while maybe a lesser man would be jealous, Jace was just glad that things were starting to work out for her.

"Alright, so I'll see you tomorrow night, right?" Clary said as she slung her camera bag over her shoulder, picking up her handbag in her other hand.

"You not going to be home tonight?" Jace asked.

"Might be, but I'll be late," Clary replied with a shrug. "Or I'll just be so worn out I'll stay over at Maia's tonight," she smirked.

"Alright, I'll see you sometime tomorrow then," Jace reached up to give her a kiss on the cheek and she waved over her shoulder at him as she headed out of the house.

* * *

"You are so...Fucking...Gorgeous..." Clary said between kisses, first over Maia Roberts neck, and then her shoulder. Maia let out a soft sigh as her fingers moved to Clary's hair, tangling in her long red hair which had been pulled from the braid she had had it in all day, and was falling in waves against her pale skin. Clary shifted back to Maia's neck, her tongue flicking out over the three scars which were a lighter shade of caramel than the rest of her body. Maia sighed, wiggling underneath the red head, bucking her hips up to meet her lovers.

"You want to say thank you, you'd be using that tongue a little lower," Maia joked lightly and Clary pulled back to roll her eyes at the dark haired girl, her curls splayed out over the pillow.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there," Clary snarked back. "What—you're not into foreplay anymore?"

"It's been a long week," Maia whined, thrusting her hips up again and Clary laughed, shaking her head. She pressed her lips against Maia's, cutting short any further any conversation, while her fingers danced lightly up her inner thigh, getting closer to the middle of her legs. Clary was crouched over Maia, their breasts brushing together every few moments, and Clary's nipples were straining to be touched.

But Maia came first right now, because like she said, this was about saying thank you.

Clary bit lightly at the girl's lip, tugging at it as her fingers moved between Maia's legs, lightly running her fingers over her trimmed pubic hair. Her fingernail scratched over her slit, grazing her slit with the tip of her nail and a shudder ran through the dark haired girls body. Clary smiled against her lips, before letting her tongue slide down her chin, biting softly before attaching itself to her neck, sucking softly as she pressed her thumb gently against her clit, slowly moving in a circular motion.

"Shit," Maia cursed, her body arching upward at the soft touch. They had been rolling around on the double bed for the past half an hour, kissing, grinding against each other, sucking on one anothers neck's and breasts, and they were both ready and wanting. Maia was wound up, thinking that she was going to get an orgasm right at the start, not realizing originally that Clary planned to drag it out. "Come on—come on, Clare," she begged, pulling at her hair, thrusting her hips again to meets the other girls hand.

Clary didn't bother replying as she kissed her way down to the valley between her breasts, licking and biting her way from one breast to another, before getting lower, lipping at her stomach, dipping into her belly button before finally getting to the spot that Maia wanted her the most.

"Fuck, _yes_ ," Maia hissed as Clary flattened her tongue, the point of her tongue dipping into her hole before the wet warmth of her mouth engulfed her pussy. "Oh, shit. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ ," Maia whined, twisting on the bed, grasping at the white sheets, twisting it in her fists. It didn't take long before she came, given how worked up she already was, but Clary didn't stop at the point. She could feel the other girls juices dripping down her chin, and soaking into the sheet below her, but she kept going. Her ears were filled with the whines and paints of Maia, and the girl was twitching and her thighs were trembling. Maia came, again and again, until she was pushing at Clary's head, trying to shove her away, but Clary just smirked and kept going, making her come until her whole body was wracked with shivers of pleasure. Her whole body was limp when Clary pulled away, resting back on her folded legs and wiping her mouth with her hand.

"You good?" Clary lifted an eyebrow at Maia, who didn't bother opening her eyes, just lifting her hand to weakly pull the fingers at her. Clary laughed, straightening out and falling on the bed beside Maia, folding one of her arms behind her head. Her own cunt was absolutely throbbing, eager for attention, but she waited patiently, letting Maia recover from her multiple orgasms.

When Maia finally seemed to regain control over her body, she rolled over, stretching out on top of Clary and giving her a few soft kisses on her mouth before she rolled back off Clary, reaching under her bed. Clary heard her rustling around under the bed, and then she lifted herself up on her knees. She had her strap on in her hand, and she quickly sorted out the straps around her waist and securing it around her upper legs. Clary spread her legs, shuffling down the bed to get closer to Maia, eager to get the phallic shaped rubber inside of her.

Maia didn't make her wait, didn't draw it out like Clary had with her, and the red head was happy, because giving Maia so much pleasure had just made her even hungrier for her own. Maia hooked her arms under her thighs, spreading them wider, tipping her backward so that her pelvis was tilted upward. Clary let out a ragged pant as the cool rubber touched her hole initially, and then Maia pushed into her, hitting all the right spots at the angle she had maneuvered into Clary.

"Holy fuck," Clary groaned, one hand going to her breast, pinching at her nipple, the other clamping down over Maia's, which was holding one of her thighs. "Oh fuck, holy hell—" Maia smirked, her hips thrusting forward again and again, filling Clary over and over. Maia kept on fucking into her, at one point moving one of her hands and strumming at Clary's clit, which sent her spiralling toward her orgasm.

Afterwards, the two woman lay next to each other, Clary pretty sure she dozed off at one point. When she fully came to again, the light coming through the long windows was dimmer, and the sun had obviously sunk lower in the sky. Maia gave her a soft kiss on the shoulder before getting up, walking over to pick up a blouse on the ground, slipping it on, not bothering with underwear as she walked toward the kitchen. Her whole apartment was open plan, except for the bathroom in the corner, and a single wall which separated the kitchen from the lounge, although it was still open to everything else. She had a corner apartment as well, so there were long windows along two walls, flooding the place with so much light throughout the day.

Clary loved her house, her biological fathers home that he had left to her when he had passed away, but she had the occasional twinge of jealousy toward Maia for such a gorgeous place to live.

"You hungry?" Maia asked from where she was now standing in the kitchen, already filling up the water for her coffee maker.

"Nah, but I'll have one of those," Clary waved her hand in the direction of the coffee maker. Maia nodded, getting everything organized before putting the coffee on. Once she got out two cups and put them on the table, she came back over to the bed, crawling over and sitting down next to Clary.

"So..." she began. "Do I get a copy of this famous picture?" She asked with a smirk and Clary grinned.

"I'm getting one specially framed for you, babe," Clary assured her. "I told you I would. I'm just looking for the perfect frame."

"I'm going to hang it right here," Maia pointed above her bed, at the open brick wall, and Clary grinned.

"It'll look perfect there," she agreed.

The photo—the one that had shot Clary to sudden recognition in the photography world, and been a feature at a gallery, and had opened the door for her with so many different job opportunities—was of Maia. She had titled it _The Beauty of Imperfection_ , and it had been a photo that Clary had taken after she and Maia had had sex in the middle of the afternoon. She had just come from a wedding, and she had all her equipment, although she hadn't planned on taking any photos.

But Maia had looked so beautiful, laying there, the duvet dragged off the bed and the pillows somewhere on the floor, so that she was only on the white sheet, the top white sheet pulled up to cover most of her ass. The white sheet was a contrast with her darker skin, and her black curls were a complete mess. She was half on her side, one of her legs hitched up, and the way the sheet was falling, part of one flawless ass cheek was showing. One arm was stretched above her head, and she was resting on it, and her neck was bared, showing off the three scars there.

Clary hadn't been able to stop herself from going over to get her camera and getting up on the wooden foot of the bed, taking an aerial shot of Maia.

She had cleaned the photo up a bit, smoothing out the edges, cropping it so that the mattress filled the whole screen, the white sheet was the whole backdrop, with Maia in the middle, looking absolutely _fucking gorgeous_ despite the scars on her neck. _Because_ of the scars on her neck.

Maia was absolutely stunning, and her scars just made her unique, and after the photograph had become so famous, she had been called by the very modelling agencies that had originally asked her to cover up the scars, telling her that they wanted her to represent them, and they had businesses calling, asking for her to be the face of their new campaigns. Clary was just glad that when her friend gave her permission to use the photo, it had helped her modelling career as well.

Which is the reason why Clary was saying 'thank you' to Maia today.

"So you're officially finished with Victor's business, right?" Maia asked as she got back off the bed to make their drinks as the coffee maker beeped.

"Yup, did my last shoot today," Clary answered, rolling onto her side to watch Maia as she moved around the kitchen. "A lesbian scene with Kaelie—and my first one was actually lesbian scene with Kaelie, so it was kind of like coming around in a full circle," she let out a laugh and Maia rolled her eyes.

"Jace was there as well, right?"

"Yeah, he was filming," Clary nodded, glancing around the apartment, wondering where her bra had gone.

"How does he feel about you leaving?" Maia asked as she came back to the bed with the two mugs of coffee in her hands.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be absolutely fine. We'll still each other everyday," Clary shrugged. "Anyway, tell me about this guy that you met the other day, you said he asked you out, right? You think you're going to take him up on it?" Maia grinned, and started talking about the underwear model she met on one of her shoots.


	2. Chapter 2

Jace let out a groan as he felt his cock hit the back of Sebastian Verlac's throat. Jace was trying to watch the whole thing from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed, but his eyes kept closing given just how fucking _good_ Sebastian looked, on his knees in front of him, still fully clothed, his red lips stretched to accommodate for Jace's cock. Sebastian sucked him down a couple more times before he pulled off his cock and ducked his head to lick at his sac.

"Fuck, Seb!" Jace growled, his toes cracking as he curled them viciously, trying to stave off his orgasm. Jace put one hand on Sebastian's shoulder, gripping the black shirt he was wearing, holding it tightly as Sebastian took one ball into his mouth, and then the next. His hand circled around Jace's cock and began pumping, and the simultaneous attention to his cock and his balls was so blindingly good, he felt his whole body jolt forward. He wasn't too sure how much longer he would be able to sit there, because his body felt as though it was going to melt into the mattress.

Obviously Sebastian was ready for something different as well, because he straightened up and put a hand on Jace's chest, shoving him backward so that he was lying down. Jace was about to ask if Sebastian wanted him to move further up, towards the pillows, but Sebastian just got up and man-handled him into the position he wanted him in. Jace bounced a few times as Sebastian crouched on the edge of the bed, pushing Jace's legs up and apart and then burying his face in his ass.

"Holy fuck!" Jace let out an aborted shout, and was glad that Clary wasn't home, or she would never let him live down the fact that he was being louder than a girl. Then again, the idea of Clary hearing him with Sebastian, or her being just on the other side of the thin walls, did all sort of things to his cock. Sebastian had his tongue buried in his ass, sloppy and wet and making obscene noises, and Jace wasn't even trying to keep quiet.

The second Sebastian slid his finger in, curling it upward to press firmly against his prostate, Jace was gone, coming with a shout, spurting white streaks across his tanned cheeks. Sebastian rubbed against his prostate a few more times, wrapping a hand around Jace's cock to milk him of the last few drops before he pulled back, one of his rare smiles pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"I'm gonna fuck you now," Sebastian stated, in absolutely no way asking a question. But that was what Jace liked about Sebastian, what he had liked right from the start when Sebastian had come up to him in a club and said that he got off at three and he wanted Jace to wait for him outside. Sebastian knew what he wanted and what he liked, and he took it. But he also wasn't one of those assholes who just liked to take, he was just as happy to suck Jace off and eat his ass as he was to fuck Jace's face or ass. Sebastian was slow when he first pushed in, and then as he eased in a second time, but then once he knew that Jace was stretched enough for it not to be too painful, he got rougher.

He had Jace's legs back, shoving into him until Jace was barely able to see straight as he stared up at the ceiling. Jace could barely feel his legs, but he was vaguely aware of the fact that he came a second time from the pressure being applied to his prostate so quickly after he had already come.

When Sebastian finished, he rolled to the side, laying next to Jace and taking a few moments to catch his breath again. Jace didn't have anywhere that he needed to be, and he liked Sebastian hanging around after they fucked. He hadn't been with anyone serious in quite a while, and unlike Clary, he didn't really have good friendships with the people that he slept with. Not to say that he treated them like shit, he was never rude and didn't send them away as soon as they were gone, but if they hung out too much afterwards, or did the whole pillow talk thing, Jace was worried he would get attached. He didn't quite understand how Clary managed to just stay friends with the people she slept with regularly, and it was probably the reason that he gravitated toward more shallow one night stands.

Sebastian was different, though.

For some reason.

"Are you working tonight?" Jace asked when he opened his eyes again, still not properly able to feel his legs, so not quite ready to go across the hall to the bathroom to clean up.

"Yup," Sebastian nodded his head, although his eyes were still closed and he had one muscled arm bent at the elbow, tucked behind his head. "Until close."

"I might see you then," Jace told him lightly, nudging his side. "We're going out to celebrate Clary, well..." he made a face and tilted his head to the side. "Getting out of the porn business, but then it sounds so much worse when you say it out loud." Sebastian let out a short laugh and shook his head, finally opening his eyes and looking at Jace. It was weird, the first time that Jace met Sebastian, he had thought that he was wearing contacts because they were so dark, but it turned out that Sebastian just had incredibly dark—almost black eyes.

"I know what you mean," he said, and then took in a deep breath before getting up off the bed. Jace unabashedly watched as Sebastian walked around the bed and toward the door, his naked figure leaving the room and going across to the bathroom that was opposite. He had been here enough times to know his way around, and when he came back into the room, he tossed a damp flannel at Jace for him to clean up. Sebastian picked up his briefs from the ground and pulled them on, and Jace wondered if he was getting ready to go, but once he pulled on his sweatpants, he laid back down on the bed. Jace cleaned himself up quickly and then put the damp flannel on the bedside table next to him.

"Maybe I can get someone to cover the last half of my shift," Sebastian said quietly. "So I can meet your girl finally."

"She's not my girl," Jace sung out with a roll of his eyes as he looked at Sebastian, who was laying next to him. Sebastian teased him often about his relationship with Clary, and most of the time Jace just shrugged it off because he viewed it as exactly that, teasing. But sometimes he got a feeling that Sebastian genuinely thought that there was something more between them. "But that would be cool, Alec and Izzy are going to be there with us as well, and Izzy's boyfriend. I think Maia is coming as well."

"Maia was the one who was in the picture that got the awards, right?" Sebastian asked and Jace nodded. "I looked on her website the other day—your girls, not Maia's," Jace didn't bother to try and correct him this time. "She's got some incredible art pieces, I'm surprised she didn't get discovered earlier."

"She doesn't want to be a famous photographer," Jace shrugged. "Her mum was. Her mum did these absolutely incredible pieces, going all over the world, taking photos of people in different cultures from all over before deciding to 'settle down'—" Jace made quotation marks with his fingers at that. "—And just do fashion shoots. But those shoots still had her bouncing across the country, and she was gone pretty much all of Clary and her brothers childhood. Her mother cared more about her career than she did about her family, and about her friends. When she died a couple of years ago, pretty much everyone there were work acquaintances, and the whole thing was just cold and awkward," he sighed as he remembered the funeral a couple of years ago. "She just wants to do what makes her happy, and spend her life with people who make her happy." Sebastian was quiet for a long few moments before he gently nudged Jace's side with his elbow.

"Is that why she lives with you?" He asked softly. There was no judgement in his voice, toward Jace or Clary, it was just a simple question. "Because you're someone who makes her happy?"

"I—" Jace wasn't sure how to answer that, completely caught off guard. "I...Suppose?" He frowned as he thought about it before shaking his head. "Anyway, I think it would be cool, if you could get off work a little bit earlier, hang out with us." Sebastian nodded and turned his head forwards once again, so that he was looking up at the ceiling.

"So there's Maia, the girl from the picture. There's Alec, the one who always looks moody in the pictures that are on your Facebook—" Jace let out a laugh at the description. "—Izzy, who looks like a fashion model—both of who are your cousins. Izzy's boyfriend is the one that wears glasses. And then there's Clary, the one who's house we're in, but I've never actually met," he said it lightly, but it sounded as though there might be something a little deeper.

"Sounds like you've got it sussed," Jace gave him a half smile, although Sebastian wasn't looking at him. "Um," he cleared his throat, licking his tongue along his plump lower lip. "Maybe we could go out and get something to eat after?"

"Something to eat?" Sebastian turned his head back to face him. "It'll be like three or four in the morning, and I'm guessing you're going to be drunk," there was a smirk on his face.

"Well, yeah, okay," Jace relented. "You could be drunk as well, if you're not working."

"I prefer to steer clear of alcohol," Sebastian stated, and Jace wasn't surprised. They hadn't been seeing each other for very long, if getting together and fucking every couple of days could be called 'seeing each other'. It had maybe been two months, and it was all very casual, mainly at Sebastian's loft, since for some reason Jace didn't like bringing lovers back to Clary's home when she was there. It wasn't as though she had any problem with it, she told him time and time again that he was her flat mate, and he should treat the place like it was his own, but something was holding him back. In the time that they had been seeing each other, though, Jace had never seen Sebastian have a drink. "Although, if you still want, afterwards we could go back to my place, share a bong, maybe do a bit more of this," Sebastian waved his hand between the two of them.

"That sounds like a good plan," Jace's smile stretched and Sebastian let out a short laugh.

"Alright, well, I better get going," Sebastian said, getting up off the bed and searching around for his shirt.

"I think it was somewhere in the hallway," Jace called out helpfully and Sebastian rolled his eyes as he walked out of the room and then made a noise of triumph, and Jace knew that he had found the shirt that had been ripped off in their earlier passion. Sebastian came back in, fully dressed now, and he glanced down at Jace on the bed.

"Text me—tonight, when you get to the club," Sebastian said. "I'll find someone to cover some of my shift, there's a couple of the guys there that owe me."

"Perfect," Jace got off the bed, coming over to stand in front of Sebastian and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. Or, at least as chaste as a kiss could be when one of them was completely naked. Sebastian's hand slid over his hip and began sliding down to his ass, before Jace slapped his hand away playfully and stepped back. Sebastian gave him a quick smirk before he walked out of the room, and a couple of minutes later, Jace heard the front door slam shut. Jace walked over to where his cell phone was on the dresser, and he picked it up and checked the time.

It was almost four in the afternoon, and Clary would be here soon, and Isabelle and Simon would probably be over in an hour or so, and Maia might even come with Clary, since he was pretty sure that that was where she was. So it was about time that he had a shower and started getting ready, since Clary would hog the bathroom once she got home. There were two bathrooms in the house, but for some reason, they always used the same one, leaving the one at the back of the house for whenever they had guests.

Jace rolled his eyes when he saw that Clary had one of her bras hanging over the towel warming rack, a lacy purple and cream coloured one, and then felt slightly guilty at the fact his cock twitched in interest when he had _just_ been with Sebastian. He had actually seen Clary in that particular bra a couple of times, and one of those times, she had only been in that bra, because she had been searching for the matching underwear in her room and hadn't closed her door properly.

But the thing was, that wasn't the only problem that he had with Clary.

If they were just friends, and he had a couple of sexual fantasies about her as well, then that was fine, he could deal with that. That was normal, to be friends with someone and to have sexual thoughts about them. Hell, Jace had even pictured Simon Lewis once while he had been jerking off, although that had been momentary and fleeting, because he and Simon were barely friends at the best of times, and not in the sexy, hate-fueled lovers tryst way either.

No, Jace had no problem accepting that it was okay for him to have thoughts about his friends in a sexual way.

Jace's problem with Clary was that it wasn't _just_ those thoughts that he had about her.

He liked her.

He _liked_ her.

In fact, he was pretty sure that he loved her.

When his thoughts drifted to Clary, the thoughts weren't just when he was getting off in his bed or in the shower, and they didn't just centre around the sexual persuasion. Sometimes he would be watching TV on the couch, and she was at the other end of the couch and playfully digging her toes into his thigh, and he just wanted this to keep happening. He wanted there to be lazy Sundays on the couch or in bed, and he wanted those cutesy texts that he always teased his cousins about, and he wanted to be able to kiss her temple whenever he felt like it.

Jace loved Clary.

He wasn't sure when it had happened, because the realization had sort of just hit him in the face one day, about seven or eight months ago. He hadn't acted on it, and he definitely hadn't told Clary, because he didn't want her to feel obligated to say or do something that she wasn't ready for.

But there was also Sebastian.

And he liked what he had with Sebastian.

It was new and he really didn't know what was happening, but he didn't want that to end any time soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Pride Month, ya'll!

Clary made a face at her reflection as she stared at the dress that she had picked out. It was one of Isabelle's which meant it sit a bit bit differently on her than it had with her friend, but it didn't look bad. In a way, she was glad that it sit differently, because on Isabelle, it barely covered her ass, so at least it reached mid-thigh on her. It was cold shoulder fashion, with short sleeves clinging to her upper arms, and a couple of straps of material crossing over her cleavage. The bra she was wearing did wonders for her cleavage, which definitely wasn't one of her strongest assets, and after regarding herself in the mirror for a moment later, she moved to her wardrobe to find a pair of shoes.

"Oi! Bitch! We come here to celebrate and you're not even ready!" Isabelle Lightwood yelled, and Clary could hear her friend getting closer, her heels clicking on the wooden floor of the hallway. Her door opened and Isabelle stepped in, looking incredible in a glittering green and black dress. "Shit, girl, you look better in that than I do."

"Fuck off," Clary laughed as she found a pair of gladiator heels that went well with the style of dress she was wearing. "I don't think anyone _ever_ looks better than you do."

"This is true," Isabelle smirked as she fell down on the corner of Clary's bed, bouncing a couple of time. "Anyway, Simon is out there talking about the newest building he's working on, and I'm pretty sure Jace is going to pass out in boredom, so we should probably get out there and save him."

"I love how you say that, 'the newest building he's _working on_ '," Clary snorted. "Makes it sound as though Simon has actually done physical labor. Which I'm pretty sure he's never done _in his life_!"

"Well," Isabelle wiggled her eyebrows up and down. "I'll have you know that Simon gets involved in some _very_ physical activity one to two times a week!" Clary snorted again and shook her head.

"Only one to two times?" She asked.

"Well, when you're single, you go out on the prowl and hump like a bunny," Isabelle stated. "But I'll have you know that when you're settled down and practically married, having someone who will massage your feet and tell you that you look beautiful when you're two days into your period and your face is broken out in acne, that's even better than sex." Clary tilted her head to the side as she regarded Isabelle, a disbelievingly look on her face.

"Is it, though? Is it really?" Clary asked and Isabelle pursed her lips together, considering it for a moment before letting out a laugh.

"Okay, it's not _as_ good, but it's definitely a close second," she conceded and Clary grinned.

"Alright, let's get out there and save Jace," Clary said as she stood up, the heels she was wearing putting some height on her, but given Isabelle was _already_ taller than her _and_ wearing heels, she was still an inch or so shorter than the dark haired girl. They walked out to the lounge, where Simon was standing and Jace was in the adjoining kitchen, cutting up a lemon on the chopping board on the bar.

"Tequila?" Isabelle scrunched up her nose. "I've had some _bad_ nights on tequila."

"Like that time when you went up to Simon and asked if he would have your babies? And got really upset when he told you that it wasn't physically possible for him to have them? And then I had to hold your hair back in the toilets because you were crying so hard you made yourself throw up?" Clary snorted and Isabelle shoved at her friend.

"Fuck you," she said with a good-natured laugh as she walked over to where Simon was standing.

"Well, let's see if you can manage to keep your shirt on this time, and don't give any old men a lap dance," Jace grinned as he pushed three shot glasses across to the other side of the bench for his three friends.

"I'll have you know that was jägermeister, thank you very much," Isabelle said snootily as she picked up the tequila and then lifted her hand to her mouth, licking the side before holding it out to Jace. He poured salt carefully along the side of her hand, and then waited as Simon and Clary did the same thing. He finally licked the palm of his own hand and poured salt on it before picking up his shot glass.

"To Clary," Jace smiled widely at her, and Clary grinned back, tilting her head to the side. "For _finally_ getting noticed for her incredible talent. And for not having to film and take photos of girls fake moan and guys take viagra to get it up anymore."

"I'll drink to that!" Clary clinked her shot glass against Jace's, and then Isabelle and Simon's in turn, before licking the salt off her hand and throwing the tequila. Tequila definitely wasn't her favourite drink, she had drunk way to much of it when she was in high school, but she didn't mind starting her night off with a few shots of it.

"Eesh!" Isabelle winced as she reached for a wedge of lemon, shoving it into her mouth and sucking it on. Jace grinned at the sour expression on Simon's face, the bespectacled man looking as though he may not be able to swallow it all down, but he forced himself, and then took the lemon wedge that Jace held out to him. "Oh, baby. You're adorable." Simon rolled his eyes at her as he pulled the wedge out of his mouth and tossed it next to the other three.

"Another round?" Jace prompted with a grin as he picked up the tequila bottle.

"No!" Simon protested as there was a knock at the door. The visitors who had just arrived didn't wait for an answer, opening up the door and walking in.

"Biscuit!" Magnus Bane cried out. "Congratulations on not having to watch sweaty men get it on with girls who look like they're twelve!" Alexander Lightwood was close behind his boyfriend, and he rolled his eyes with a fond smile as he dodged around Magnus when he stopped short to wrap his arms around Clary and hug the petite girl close.

"I see you've already started shots," Alec said in an amused tone as he moved to stand next to Jace.

"Just one," Jace grinned as he grabbed out two more shot glasses from the cupboard and put the down on the bench. "So you guys can easily catch up."

"Not for me," Alec shook his head. "I've got to be at work at seven in the morning."

"Aw," Clary pouted as she turned around to face Alec, one arm still around Magnus. "Does that mean you're going to be leaving us early tonight?" Alec stared at her for a beat, a look of indecision on his face as Clary stuck out her bottom lip further and batted her eyelashes at him. "Please stay?" She asked in a high pitched voice.

"Fiiiine," Alec sighed and both Clary and Isabelle let out a cheer. "But I'm not drinking!"

"That's fine!" Clary assured him as she left Magnus to come over and give Alec a kiss on the cheek. "We wouldn't want you hungover when you're dealing with all your kids tomorrow!"

"Well, _I'll_ be drinking," Magnus said. "So pour me one!"

* * *

It was close to eleven o'clock when the group got to the club. Jace strained his neck as they waited in the queue outside to see who was working the door, but he didn't see Sebastian. Sebastian had text him on his break to tell him that he had managed to get someone to cover him from midnight, so he would be joining them after that, and Jace could feel the nerves twisting in his stomach. He wasn't too sure why, because it wasn't as though he was introducing Sebastian as his boyfriend to the group or anything, simply a friend, that he was sleeping with. The last part didn't need to be said, but Jace's friends weren't stupid, they could pick up on things quickly. Especially Clary, because she knew that there was someone that Jace was sort of seeing, and she had figured out it was a guy as well, although she hadn't pushed him for further details when she had sensed that it wasn't something he wanted to talk about.

"Clary!" Came a call after they had gotten into the club, and Clary strained to try and see who was calling out. Jace couldn't stop a smile from breaking out across his face as he leaned forward so that his mouth was close to his ear.

"Do you need a lift up?" He teased her lightly and Clary made a face and slapped him playfully on the arm. He didn't think he had ever told her before, because it probably wasn't something that he should really be thinking about, but he loved her height, how short she was. He loved how easy it was for him to look down at her, and in the three times where they had had sex, he had used his height to his advantage, lifting her up so that her legs wrapped around her or pressing her into a wall, his hands on her neck, his tall, muscular figure basically blanketing over her smaller one.

Jace blinked his eyes and quickly shook the thoughts about of his head.

It felt kind of disloyal, thinking about Clary like that when he was meeting Sebastian here tonight. He and Sebastian had been clear about both of them being free to see other people, but Jace hadn't really felt the need. He spent most nights with Clary, and weekends with her and his friends, and then when he had an itch to scratch, he would text Sebastian.

"Clary!" Maia appeared out of the crowd of people, and her and Clary hugged quickly, Maia kissing her firmly on the mouth. Jace raised an eyebrow at that and tried to ignore that pang in his stomach, because he _knew_ that Clary didn't have anything serious with Maia, but that didn't stop Jace from being jealous that it was Maia that Clary was kissing, not him. "Hey, everyone!" She grinned at the group of friends that were surrounding Clary.

"Hey, girl," Magnus had a wide smile on his face as he leaned in to give her a hug. "I think we need to get some drinks!" There was a cheer from Isabelle and Clary, and Alec's eyes widened in dramatized horror as he exchanged looks with Jace, who grinned and shook his head. Magnus lead the way, with Isabelle and Simon close behind, Maia and Alec next, and Clary falling behind so that she was just half a step in front of Jace, her hand stretching out behind her, toward Jace. Jace took her hand, fingers slipping together easily as they made their way to the bar.

"Let me take care of this," Isabelle gave a coy smile to Magnus and tapped him out of the way with her hip, before taking his place at the counter. She rested her breasts on the counter, leaning forward and tipping her head back so that her pretty face was tilted upwards. It was only seconds before one of the bartenders came over, ignoring a few other people who had been waiting at the bar longer than them. Isabelle ordered them all a round, rattling off their drinks impressively, only faltering when coming to Maia's, given the girl wasn't usually out with them.

"Nicely done," Clary grinned as she was passed a raspberry looking concoction, and Isabelle passed out the rest of the drinks as the bartender quickly made them and passed them over. Alec took over from there, paying for the first round. Given how often they went out for dinners and brunches and drink together, they all just took turns paying as they went. "Alright," Clary said as they managed to find a gap at one of the tables, a few girls with bright coloured drinks at the other end. "I just wanted to say thank you, to all you pretty people, for all your support and for believing in me. You're all beautiful and amazing," she grinned widely and held her drink up, and her friends cheered as they all clinked their glasses together and drank from them.

It only took half an hour or so before the girls—and Magnus—were buzzed and bouncing around and ready to dance. Isabelle tried to get Simon to join them, but he had had nowhere near enough alcohol to get his awkward ass out on the dance floor, and so she gave up and linked fingers with Clary, and they merged into the crowd of gyrating people. From where Alec, Simon and Jace were left standing at the high table, up a couple steps from the mosh pit of people, they were able to see the tops of their friends heads bobbing up and down, and would only occasionally get glimpses of their faces when the spotlights spun in their direction.

The girls down the other end of their table were making eyes at them. Alec shut them down with his usual, charming glare, while Simon just looked flustered when one of the girls wrapped her lips around her straw and sucked on it seductively, and Jace settled for giving them a small, disinterested smile before turning his eyes back to his friends pointedly. He probably would have taken one of the girls—or even potentially two—up on their offer if it was another night, but he had other things on his mind.

He hadn't seen Sebastian yet, but that didn't surprise him. It wasn't too often that Sebastian worked the door at the clubs, he was usually one of the guys who stood inconspicuously in the corners, shoulders squared and a fixed glower on his face. He was tall and had broad shoulders, and a mean looking glare when he wanted one, even though he had a pretty face, and so he looked the part.

He was also nervous to the point where he was struggling to stomach his beer.

"You good?" Alec asked, glancing him out of the side of his eye as Jace finally managed to pull the label off the beer bottle and screw it into a sticky bundle.

"Peachy," Jace replied.

"What's going on? I thought that you were happy for Clary," Alec continued.

"It's got nothing to do with Clary," Jace responded as he lifted his beer to his lips and took a small sip.

"It's _always_ got something to do with Clary," Alec answered knowingly and Jace rolled his eyes. Simon wasn't paying any attention to them, and Jace was glad about that, because even though Simon was his cousins boyfriend, they weren't particularly close, and he didn't want him overhearing.

"I'm meeting someone here tonight," Jace said, his voice lowered. He wasn't sure if Alec actually heard him over the music, or if he just got the gist from the movement of Jace's lips. Alec's eyebrows lifted and he nodded.

"Really? Who is she?" Alec asked.

"Uh, _he_ ," Jace corrected and Alec's eyebrows lifted even higher. It wasn't that he didn't know that Jace swung both ways, it was just that generally Jace was usually more interested in females. It wasn't too often that he was with guys, and for him to be introducing him to his friends, it made it seem pretty serious. "It's just...It's only casual, but—"

"But you like him?" Alec concluded and Jace nodded. "Good on you," he looked over to where their friends were dancing, in particular, the red head, who was laughing at something Maia was saying in her ear. "I mean, I love Clary, you know that. But you've been pining over her for so long. I think it's time you moved on."

"I haven't been pining!" Jace protested. Alec snorted and took a sip of his drink. "Well, I like her, but it's not like she's been leading me on. She seems pretty damn oblivious to the way I feel about her, and I've never exactly told her...And she hasn't made a secret that she doesn't want to be in a relationship right now." Alec nodded slowly and then opened his mouth to say something when he was distracted.

"Would _that_ happen to be the guy you're meeting?" Alec asked, sounding impressed. Jace turned his head in the direction that Alec was looking, and he didn't feel quite as anxious as he met Sebastian's eyes. He was on the other side of the club, and the only reason that Jace was able to see him over the crowds of people was because they were in a raised section where their seats were, and Sebastian was also in a raised section, where he could keep a good eye on the crowd.

"Yup," Jace nodded, his eyes still on Sebastian. "He gets off in about an hour I think."

"Well," Alec let out a laugh. "I don't know how intent you are on him, but he definitely seems to be into you. He's staring at you like you're the only person in the room.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh, really?" Maia let out a laugh and looked over her shoulder at Clary. "Well, maybe you'll have to show me this amazing view." The guy had been hitting on Maia for the past twenty minutes, although Clary had known from the first two minutes that they had been talking that Maia was already going to go home with him. She never really wasted her time with anyone, her personality was too blunt and to the point for her to just let someone ramble if she wasn't interested.

And Clary was happy for her. Just because the celebration tonight was sort of a joint thing, given how much the photo had boosted Maia's career, it wasn't as if they were tied to each other. If Maia wanted to go home with someone, there was no way that Clary was going to stop her.

"Uh, y-yeah!" The guy looked completely taken aback that his awkward flirtng was actually working. He was cute, in a geeky kind of way, and even though he didn't seem like Maia's usual type, that was a good thing, because Maia didn't usually have the greatest taste when it came to men. "Yeah, like—like now?" He asked and Maia laughed again, looking back at Clary who just grinned at her before waving her hand at a bartender. He acknowledged her with a lift of his eyebrow and she leaned across the counter.

"Can I just have a Harvey Wallbanger?" She asked and he nodded, moving quickly to make the drink. His eyes dipped down a couple of times to the cleavage that was on display in the dress that was she was wearing, but she didn't make any sarcastic remark or pull any faces, because when he passed the drink over, he just waved his hand as she held out her debit card, giving her a small smirk.

Being a female definitely had it's perks.

"I think I'm just going to leave you two to it," Clary grinned as she leaned in to kiss Maia on the cheek. "It was nice meeting you," she waved her hand at the guy who still looked amazed that he had a chance with the curly haired beauty. She gave Maia a pointed look as she turned her boy slightly so that she couldn't be seen by the guy, and mouthed ' _text me_ '. Maia nodded and smiled before turning her attention back to her lover for the evening.

"Where's Maia?" Isabelle asked, her words slightly slurred as Clary walked back over to where Isabelle was dancing with an out of place looking Simon.

"She's been talking to some guy—Jordan," Clary replied as she sipped her rink and then glared over at a couple of dancers behind them who bumped into her and nearly spilled her drink. "Think she's set for the night, if you know what I mean," she wiggled her eyebrows and laughed, while Simon just rolled his eyes. "You are _far_ too sober right now," Clary pointed out as she held out her drink to Simon.

"And that's the way I'm going to keep it," Simon laughed and Clary rolled her eyes.

"So boring," Clary teased him. "Anyway, I'm gonna go see Jace."

"Yeah, one of his friends from the bar is up there with him," Simon told her as she skipped past them and headed up toward the table. She hadn't been back there since she had left to go dancing a few hours ago, and her eyebrows raised when she saw Magnus and Alec at one end of the table—clearly the girls from earlier had gotten a better offer—and even though Alec had remained relatively sober, Magnus wasn't and they were kissing. Well, not really kissing—Magnus was pawing at Alec, one hand on his ass and the other on his stomach, and Alec was looking embarassed, like he usually did when there was public displays of affection, but there was no hiding the little smile on his face. Jace was at the other end, and there was a good looking blonde guy, who looked like he was a few inches taller than her roommate, standing at the table, and his attention was utterly focussed on Jace.

"Hey!" Clary greeted them as she came over to stand in the spot between Jace and Magnus. Jace jerked slightly in his seat, looking as though he had been completely caught up in whatever he had been talking about with the blonde man.

"I blame you," Alec began, raising his eyebrow and pointing a finger at her. "For the hangover that Mags is going to have tomorrow." Clary just laughed, reaching over and playfully flicking at Alec's outstretched hand.

"Well, you'll be at work, remember, so it's not like you're going to have to deal with it," Clary pointed out.

"She has a point!" Magnus agreed, smiling over at Clary, his eyes looking a little blurred.

"And who's this?" Clary turned her attention back to Jace and his friend. She noted how close they were, Jace on one of the tall stools and his friend standing at the corner of the table, so close that their arms were brushing together every few minutes. Jace had both his hands clasped together, but it wasn't as though he was doing it out of habit or because it was comfortable, it looked as though he was trying to restrain himself from reaching out to touch the other man.

 _Interesting_ , Clary noted to herself.

"Uh, this is Sebastian," Jace said as he nodded at the man. Clary grinned widely as she reached past Jace, holding out her hand.

"Nice to meet you," Sebastian told her, reaching out her hand and shaking it. His hands were rough in hers and his grip was firm. His voice had a nice British lilt to it as well.

"How come I've never met you before?" Clary asked, tilting her head to the side as she looked back at Jace. Sebastian glanced at Jace, as though waiting for him to answer, but Jace's lips parted with no sound coming out, so Sebastian answered.

"I work a lot," he replied.

"Here?" She raised an eyebrow as she looked around.

"Sometimes," Sebastian nodded, and there was something in the way that he leaned forward, his forearms on the table, his attention on Clary, that made something spark up in Jace's stomach. He wasn't sure if it was jealousy, and if it was, he wasn't sure who was jealous of—Sebastian or Clary. He settled back, taking another long pull from his bottle of beer, noting that it was nearly empty. "I have some other security gigs as well."

"Sounds interesting," Clary said with a smile, and then her eyes shifted to Jace. As their eyes came together, Jace instantly knew that _she_ knew. She knew that there was something between him and Sebastian. He had already known that she was aware that he was seeing someone, but she hadn't said anything to him, respecting his privacy and knowing that he would talk to her about it when she was ready.

It wasn't jealousy that he was feeling, Jace realized that a moment after looking at Clary.

It felt something like guilt.

Guilt that he had brought Sebastian over when he loved Clary.

Guilt that was completely unwarranted, because it wasn't as though he had anything to be guilty about, he and Clary weren't in a relationship and he didn't owe her anything. But that didn't stop the feeling.

"I'm gonna leave you guys to it," Clary wiggled her eyebrows at Jace, and Sebastian caught her doing it and he smirked a little. "But I'll see you later." She turned to leave, and Jace knew that she was okay, that she was choosing to leave so that she wasn't intruding on their moment and giving them time alone, but this was meant to be their night celebrating her achievements.

"I'll come with you," he offered abruptly, swallowing back the last of the beer in his bottle.

"Uh, I'm going back to _dance_ ," Clary clarified with Jace. "You know—that thing that you're actually pretty good at but hate to do?" That was completely accurate. He would usually only let the girls drag him onto the dance floors after he had thrown back enough drinks to make his limbs feel loose and cloud his judgement just a little. Clary looked a bit confused as she glanced between Sebastian and Jace, because she was clearly trying to give them some space.

"Yeah, I'll come with you," Jace repeated as he put his empty beer bottle down. "You don't mind?" He asked Sebastian, even though he knew that Sebastian wasn't going to say, even if he did. But Sebastian just shrugged and motioned for him to go, still with a small smirk on his face, and it was like he was putting something together in his head. Jace took in a deep breath, wondering if he should do something before leaving Sebastian at the table—touch his shoulder, give him a quick kiss on the cheek—but he settled for a tight smile and then followed Clary. They were quickly crushed into the crowd of drunk dancers.

"You didn't have to come with me!" Clary shouted, leaning in close to Jace so that he could hear her over the loud music and the noise of people around them.

"It's your celebration! I'm celebrating!" He shouted back, even though they both knew that it was a lie, and that was clear in the way that Clary lifted her eyebrow at him. But she didn't argue as she wrapped an arm around his neck, the other going around his waist, fingers close to his ass, and swayed against his body. It was an older song playing, something that Jace remembered dancing to when he was in high school, and it had a sultry beat. Even though he didn't _like_ dancing, that didn't mean he wasn't good at it, and he and Clary had a natural rhythm when they were together, their bodies easily aligning.

Clary's body was soft and molded to his, and she let out a laugh as she danced, her head tilting back, her slender throat on display, and her long hair falling around her face. Jace licked his lips, and he hated to admit it, but he started to forget that Sebastian was there—maybe even watching. It just always got like that when Clary was involved. He got so caught up in her that everyone else faded away. She leaned in close, her breasts pressing up against his chest as she reached up so that her lips touched against the shell of his ear.

"Your boy is watching us," she murmured. Jace's body jerk as he remembered Sebastian, and he almost turned to search the crowds for him, but one of Clary's hands came up and caught his jaw, stopping him from turning his head. "He doesn't look mad," she told him. "In fact...He kind of looks into it." Jace felt that go straight to his dick, and he had to swallow hard to stop himself from reacting outwardly in any other way. Clary's voice was low and he could smell the faint scent of alcohol on her breath as she continued. "So...We can carry on dancing, maybe even get a little bit closer. Or we can stop and you can go back over to him," Clary rolled her hips in a way that she _knew_ pressed up hard against him. "Up to you." Jace tightened his arm around her waist.

"You sure he doesn't look pissed?" He asked, his neck straining with the tension to stop himself from turning around and looking for Sebastian. Clary swivelled her hips, dipping her head and then moving it so she was looking back over his shoulder for a split second before resting it against his shoulder.

"Not at all," she replied, and he felt her giggle more than saw it. "I'm actually pretty sure he just shifted his pants." That made Jace even harder.

Sebastian or Clary alone? They made him ridiculously aroused.

But the idea of the together? That was crazy.

"How long have you guys been getting it on?" Clary continued speaking in his ear. "Because it's not even fair that you've never mentioned it before? I can just imagine how fucking hot you look together." Jace's eyes widened and he could just imagine how wide his pupils were as he jerked his head back to look at her. Clary smirked up at him, as though she knew what she was doing. "Like, I obviously knew that there was someone that you were getting with—but I didn't know they were _that_ fucking attractive."

"Clary..." Jace began, his voice hoarse as he pulled back to look at her. Clary just smirked again, grinding her hips together with his.

"I bet you two look fucking gorgeous together," Clary continued, tightening her grip around his neck, one of her hands moving from his back and to the nape of his neck, tugging at the strands there. It wasn't a tight pull, but it was enough for his head to dip backwards and she knew how much he liked having his hair pulled. Almost as much as her.

"Clary..." Jace began again, and they turned, and now Jace could see Sebastian, and even from where they were standing and the dim lighting, Jace could see that Sebastian was aroused. He was staring at them with his head tipped forward slightly, and his lower lip was pulled into his mouth. He had one hand in the front pocket of the dark jeans that he was wearing and the other hand was hooked in one of the belt loops with his fingers suspiciously close to the crotch of his jeans. He stared at Sebastian, and Sebastians eyes were heated as he met his gaze. Clary rubbed up against him again and his cock pulsed in his jeans.

"Do you top? Or does he?" Clary asked and then she bit lightly at his ear and Jace's eyes squeezed shut, a tremble running through his limbs as he felt her nose against his neck. "I remember you saying that you like it when a guy tops, when he holds you down, when he makes you take—"

"Seriously, Clare," Jace groaned. "Are you trying to make me come in my pants right here?"

"Well, that would be interesting," Clary let out a laugh, and the way that her body shook with the laugh made him squeeze her tighter to his body. "But no, I would rather see you come when you're with _him_." She tipped her head backwards in the direction of Sebastian. Jace's eyes widened as he realized what she wanted and the smile on her face faded as her green eyes turned serious. "Unless...Are you guys serious? Are you serious about him?" Jace felt her slowly stop rubbing up against him as she waited for his reply.

"I don't—" Jace swallowed hard as he thought about the answer.

"If you are, then this is the part where I don't want to get in the middle," Clary told him, and she gave him another smile, but this one was far from the sexy little smirk she was giving him before, more comforting and understanding. She even put a little bit of distance between their hips, stopping the way that she had been grinding against him. "I know how you are—you're not good with the whole one off get together, your heart's too big for that." Jace had never mentioned that to her before—they had never really talked about it, _on purpose_. Mainly because he didn't want to deprive himself the chance to sleep with her again.

"I don't know what I have with him," Jace admitted, his voice so quiet he was pretty sure that Clary didn't actually hear what he said, just caught the gist from his lips. They were so close together that they still looked like every other couple on the dance floor that were trying to get in one anothers pants, but Jace could feel the difference between now and what was happening just a minute ago.

"Well...You introduced him to us, that sort of makes it seem serious," Clary pointed out.

"You introduced us to Maia," Jace replied and she just shrugged.

"But I made it pretty clear right from the start that it wasn't serious between us. You know that I don't want any of that—at least not right now," she smiled at him, not realizing that her words made his stomach clench a little. "But _you_ are different. And the way you two look at each other, _that_ seems different." Jace pursed his lips, letting his eyes slide to the side. Clary probably thought that he was looking toward Sebastian, but in all honesty, he just needed to look away from Clary.

It had been years that he had felt something for her. It hadn't been love, not for a long time—that had actually been reasonably recent, when he had had this weird thought about having kids with her. But there had always been _something_.

However, other than the couple of times that they had slept together—which had all been times when they were drunk, the first time they had barely even known each other—Clary had never indicated that she had those same feelings for him. Admittedly, he had never _told_ her how he felt, but on more than one occasion, Clary had talked about how she wasn't ready for a relationship. He knew that it was to do with her mum, and her dad, and then there was some boyfriend before they had met, but it didn't stop it from hurting.

"Actually, I think maybe you're right," Jace found himself saying as he looked back at Clary. Her eyes lit up and there was a wide smile on her face.

"Oh my god, seriously?! That's awesome!" She tightened her arms around him in a hug. "Then _go be with him_. Go have fun! I'm gonna see if Maia and her man have left yet," she wiggled her eyebrows at him as she let her arms fall to her side. Just as she was about to back away, she called out. "Let me know if he's ever down for having a voyer," she grinned widely, looking so pretty that it made Jace's heart hurt. "Because taking photos of you two would be _so fucking hot_ ," she let out a laugh as she waved quickly at him and then disappeared. Jace stared at the space that she had slipped through for a long moment, and it was quickly filled with other dancing people, all laughing and having a good time.

Then he turned, searching for Sebastian and heading in his direction once he had found him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait.  
> Life is crazy.

"Did you want to come in?" Jace asked, looking over at Sebastian. It was just after nine in the morning and after spending the rest of the night —or more correctly, morning, since it was after two in the morning before they left the club —he had gone back to Sebastian's loft. They had shared a bong and then fallen asleep without doing anything else. Jace had woken up only about half an hour ago and hadn't been surprised that Sebastian was already awake. Sebastian seemed to have a pretty strict body clock that didn't let up, no matter what time they went to sleep. Jace had gotten dressed into some of Sebastian's clothes, which were a bit loose around his shoulders and a bit short around his ankles, and they were going to go out for breakfast after Jace went home, showered and changed. Usually, Jace would have just showered at Sebastian's place, but he wanted a fresh change of clothes before they went out, and it was on the way to the cafe they were going to anyway.

"Yeah," Sebastian shrugged, and it looked as though he had already planned on coming in anyway. Jace lead the way up the cobbled footpath, Sebastian close behind him, and he pulled his keys and wallet out of the pocket of the sweatpants he was in and unlocked the front door.

He loved the house that he and Clary shared.

He wouldn't be able to afford the place on his own, and neither would Clary, if they had to pay market price. She really wasn't a fan of her dad, had never really had anything to do with him. He had died while they were away at University and she had come back for the funeral, but hadn't really talked about it. She didn't seem too upset by it, but he wasn't a subject that Clary liked to broach, so Jace didn't ask.

The house was quite modern, made of dark wood and glass, with a flat roof that had solid fencing around it. It was only one storied but there were steps at the back of the house that lead up to the roof, where they had put a table and chairs and Clary would often sunbathe, Isabelle and Maia joining her when they were over. There was a high brick fence that sheltered the property from onlookers and a couple of tall trees that also provided privacy. Despite the modern look and the way it could possibly have an impersonal feel to it, as soon as you stepped inside, it felt warm. There were colourful paintings and photographs on the wall —some of Clary's professional ones as well as ones of their friends —and the furniture was all colourful and fun. Jace wasn't a big fan of all the froofy things, like the different sized pillows, but he had to admit that they were comfortable to fall asleep on.

"Did you want me to make you a coffee or something?" Jace asked. "While I'm in the shower?" There was a glint in Sebastian's eye and something in his smirk that suggested he would prefer to join Jace in the shower, but Jace was smart enough to know that they would never make it to the cafe if they both got into the shower.

"Just show me where the coffee maker is and I can make it myself," Sebastian replied and Jace nodded. They went into the kitchen and Jace showed him where everything was. He was turning to go back to the hall and down to the bathroom when Sebastian caught his hand and tugged him into him. Jace grinned as their mouths came together, his free hand coming up to cup Sebastian's hand, fingers pressing into his short hair. The feel of Sebastian's tongue was enough to make him forget where he was, muchless anyone around them, and he was confused when Sebastian pulled back and looked pointedly over Jace's shoulder. Jace turned around and saw Clary standing there, in a tiny pair of sleeping shorts and a singlet without a bra underneath.

"Shit," Jace muttered. "What are you doing here?" The question came out a bit more rudely than intended but Clary just snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Um, I live here, remember?" She told him jokingly as she came into the kitchen and ducked around the two men to go to the fridge. She opened it up and pulled out a bottle of chilled water before closing it with a nudge of her hip. She looked between the two of them and there was a smirk on her face. "Well, don't stop on my account. I'm more than happy to watch." Sebastian snorted while Jace's face just flared a red.

"Uh," Jace swallowed hard. "I didn't mean it like that, I just —I thought that maybe you would have gone home with Maia last night, or someone else..." Clary met his gaze and raised an eyebrow at that. She didn't look quite as playful as she had before, and Jace guessed that he had just kind of implied that she usually went home with someone after a night of drinking. Sebastian seemed to pick up in the shift of mood in the room and he cleared his throat.

"Jace was just going to shower and change and then we were going to go out for breakfast. Did you want to come?" Sebastian invited and Clary pursed her lips for a moment.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"You'll want to come," Jace gave her a small smile. "We're going to _Talking Birds_." It was a bit more expensive than other places, but the food was always incredible and the coffee was to die for. It was one of Clary's favourite places to go for breakfast and from the way her eyes lit up, he knew that she wanted to come with them.

"Are you sure I won't be intruding?" She asked, waving her finger between them.

"Intruding on what?" Jace asked at the same time that Sebastian stated,

"No." The two men exchanged a look that Clary politely decided to ignore.

"Alright, I'll get changed," she flashed them a smile as she left the kitchen, her water bottle still in her hand. Jace looked over at Sebastian who's eyes were on his lover, not looking after the redhead who had just walked by them.

"You alright?" Sebastian asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Jace asked, although his words were a bit more smushed together than he planned on. Sebastian obviously didn't believe him but he nodded.

"I'll make a coffee then," he said. "Don't rush." Jace nodded and jerkily left the room. He didn't know  _why_  Sebastian and Clary in the same room together put him on edge. Clary was his best friend and Sebastian was a good friend —a lover —and he trusted both of them not to cause too much friction when they were together? Why  _would_  there be any tension? At best, it was all in his head and at worse, it was him that interjected the tension when they were all together.

He was imagining it, Jace grumbled to himself. They had met twice and they had both been completely friendly to each other. It was just him, because of the way he felt about both of them.

Jace grabbed a towel from the hallway closet and went into the bathroom. As usual, there was a thong on the ground, and also the dress that Clary had worn last night. He rolled his eyes long sufferingly as he picked them both up and carefully slung them over the warming rack, knowing that she would come back in here at some point looking for them. One of the big differences between them was that Clary had absolutely no problem with mess, while Jace loathed it. Sometimes she would loose things for days in her room, whereas Jace's room was as neat as a pin.

Jace showered quickly and brushed his teeth, not bothering to shave. He went into his bedroom and changed into a pair of jeans, a slim fitting henley and then went out to the kitchen, swallowing tightly as he came around the corner and saw Sebastian and Clary together. Clary was sitting on the bench —a habit that Jace knew she was never going to break —and she was smiling widely at Sebastian, who was talking. She looked past Sebastian when she noticed Jace and her grin widened even more.

"Wait —so Sebastian had to throw you out of a club once? I didn't even know you'd ever  _been_  thrown out!" She laughed and Sebastian chuckled with her.

"It wasn't —it wasn't  _my_  fault," Jace protested.

"That's what I said," Clary grinned at him, kicking her heels lightly against the cupboard beneath the bench. "You're too much of a goody-good to get thrown out of a club for being to drunk or something."

"I'm not a goody-good!" Jace exclaimed as he came over to where the two were, Sebastian standing almost directly in front of Clary and Jace leaning his hip against the bench, beside Clary.

"You are too—you and Alec," Clary grinned as she tossed an arm around his shoulder and pulled him in for a quick kiss on the cheek. "But that's okay, that's why I love you guys." Sebastian watched the exchange between them —the comfortable way that they touched each other —and there wasn't any jealousy in his eyes as Jace put his arm around Clary's waist and easily hauled her off the counter.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I'm starving," he said. He seemed a bit more comfortable than he had before, and Sebastian hoped that it was because he had gotten over whatever had bothered him when they had first come into the kitchen. Jace locked the house up while Clary skipped ahead of the two guys, the dress she was wearing flicking up around her thighs a couple of times. Jace followed after her and he couldn't help his smile. With her hair in two french braids and the baby blue dress that she was wearing, she didn't look much older than eighteen, and it was difficult to imagine that she had worked for the past three years in the porn industries, taking photos of naked men and women with a completely straight face. But then she spun around and smiled at both men with those full, pink lips of hers and Jace remembered where that mouth had been, and it really wasn't that hard to visualize.

"I call shot gun," she announced as she got to the car first.

"Hey!" Jace protested as Sebastian snorted out a laugh.

"You got to sleep with—" Clary waved a hand up and down Sebastian. "—All of that. I'm pretty sure I'm getting the worse off deal with the better seat." Sebastian didn't bother just snorting this time and Jace made a face at him, although he couldn't smother his full smile.

"She's got you there," Sebastian pointed out. "You did get to sleep with—" he did an exaggerated finger wave down his body, teasing the redhead. "— _All of this_. I feel like we need to take pity on the deprived girl and give her shot gun." Sebastian was  _teasing_. Jace had never really heard Sebastian do that. Jace didn't know what to say, so he waited for Sebastian to unlock the car and then got into the backseat. Nirvana was playing on the radio and Clary wound her window down, letting her hand hang out the window and catch the wind as they drove to the cafe.

The parking lot of the cafe was busy, which was to be expected, but the seating for the place was a lot larger than it looked from the outside. Clary lead the way inside, smiling widely at the girl behind the counter who gave them menus and pointed them out the back, saying that there were some empty seats out there. Jace sat down on one side and Clary slid into the seat opposite him, stretching out her legs underneath the table. Sebastian took the place next to Jace and picked up the menu. After a few moments, he seemed to realize that Clary and Jace weren't looking at their menus.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, his eyes flicking between them.

"Nope," Clary shook her head, braids whipping from side to side.

"We just come here enough we already know what we want," Jace answered with a grin. Sebastian laughed under his breath as he went back to looking at the menu. Clary leaned back in her seat and looked between the two of them. Sebastian missed the looks that were exchanged and the way that Jace's eyes widened pointedly as Clary grinned and nodded at Sebastian. It was a teasing look that made Jace's stomach squeeze.

As if he could ever really hide anything from Clary.

Maybe Jace hadn't quite admitted to himself that he and Sebastian were doing something more than sleeping together, Clary could obviously see right through it. And from the way that she was wiggling her eyebrows and making funny faces at him, it seemed as though she approved, and he really didn't know if that made things better or worse.

He had dated a couple of people in the time that he had known —and had pretty damn strong feelings for —Clary. There had been three girls and a guy, and they had all been quite short-lived romances. He always founds something about them that got on his nerves or that just didn't sit right, and he didn't like to think it, even to himself, but he knew it was because he was comparing the with the way he felt with Clary. She had always been supportive of his romances, all except for one girl, Dalia, who had turned out to be complete bitch, so he guessed he could give her a pass on this one.

But it was clear that she approved of Sebastian.

He didn't know how he felt about that.

"Okay, I know what I want," Sebastian stated and Clary flickered her eyes over to him and began to smile when she saw the way he was looking at her over the top of his menu. He didn't try to hide the way he was staring, dark eyes heated and intense, as though he could see exactly what she was thinking, and it made her shift in her seat. She was about to open her mouth to —to say  _something_  —when one of the waitresses came over with a bright smile.

"Hi! Are you guys ready to order or did you need a few more minutes?" She asked in a perky voice that Jace wasn't sure  _how_  she could muster at this time of morning. Although, to be fair, it was getting closer to midday now, so he guessed that it was just because he had gone to bed so late that he was still feeling half asleep.

"No, we're ready," Sebastian said, his voice even and deep, and Jace blinked as he looked over at Sebastian, as though pulled from whatever thoughts he was stuck in while staring across at Clary. There was something that had been exchanged between the two of them that he had missed and he wondered what it was before Clary started talking, giving her order over to the waitress. Sebastian went next and then Jace, and she smiled widely at them before walking off.

"So," Clary pursed her lips playfully as she looked between the two of them. "Did you two have fun last night after you left the club?" Jace rolled his eyes at his friend while Sebastian's lips tugged upward in a smirk. "You were pretty hot and bothered when we were dancing," she wiggled her eyebrows at Jace and he pulled the fingers at her, while Sebastian just let out a chuckle under her breath.

"I noticed that," Sebastian said quietly and Jace's eyebrows rose. Sure, he'd caught Sebastian's eyes while he and Clary were dancing, and he had been pretty sure there was heat there, but when he had gone over to join him, he hadn't said anything about it.

"Did Jace tell you what I do?" She asked with a tilt of her head and Sebastian lifted an eyebrow in question. "For a living."

"Yeah," Sebastian nodded, and then he stretched out his arm over the back of Jace's chair. It wasn't a possessive move, exactly, it just looked as though he was stretching out, but Jace quite liked the feel of Sebastian's arm against his back. Clary watched the movement as well, before focusing back on Sebastian. "Photographer. And a damn good one as well, given how proud Jace is of you."

"Did he tell you that I'd like the photograph the two of you together?" Clary continued and Jace nearly choked on his breath as he realized how blatantly she had said that and glared across the table.

"Clary!" He hissed and she giggled. Sebastian didn't look put off or offended by what she had said. In fact, he looked a little curious.

"Have  _you_  ever been photographed?" He asked.

"In my life? Of course," she grinned at him.

"You know what I mean," Sebastian replied. "Has anyone photographed you, either by yourself or with someone?" Clary's smile faded a little and she pulled her lower lip into her mouth. Jace watched the movement and he recognized it well.

She was aroused.

"Because that would be hot," Sebastian smirked, glancing between Clary and Jace. Clary's eyes widened and Jace's expression was similar to hers. Jace also found it a little funny, that Sebastian had managed to catch her off guard, but mainly he was just interested. Interested and turned on. "Maybe that's something that we can try out sometime." Clary's green eyes widened even more but then the waitress came over with their drinks and it broke the moment.


	6. Chapter 6

Jace straightened up in his seat, arching his backwards and stretching his arms above his head. He heard his back click a few times and he winced as he turned his head from side to side, and then slumped back in his seat. He had been going through the clips that he had shot for a new travel advertisement that was going to be used nationally. Technically he was commissioned by a travel agency to do it, but they were in partnership with a major airline, and it was going to be used in all of their flights as part of the adverts that came on before the in flight movie.

It needed to be perfect, because if he nailed this, then he should be able to have enough money and get enough publicity to be able to stop with the porn gig that he had going on. It wasn't that he didn't like his work there, it had been fun, there were definitely perks, and when he had been going through university, he had definitely be the point of jealousy for a lot of his peers.

But it really wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

It was good money, but he needed more from his career now.

"Honey! I'm  _home_!" Clary sung out as she opened the front door and stepped inside. Jace rolled his eyes from where he was sitting in the kitchen, but there was a grin on his face as he heard her kick off her shoes and shut the front door. He knew that her shoes were going to be splayed out on the wooden floor, not bothering to line them up on the shoe rack that she had brought after she had gotten sick of Jace complaining about her messily dropping her shoes on the ground and not bothering to move them out of the doorway. He had tripped over them on countless occasions, and he knew that he was going to trip over them countless more. It was there thing, and he was okay with it, no matter how much he bitched about it. "Ooh, whatchya working on?" Clary dropped her bag on the floor carelessly, but then very carefully put her camera bag on the kitchen counter top, and came over to where Jace was sitting at the kitchen table.

"Just something that I'm hoping is gonna turn out half as good I hope it does, and it's going to be okay," Jace replied. Clary rolled her eyes at Jace's words as she rested her elbows on his shoulders and looked down at the laptop in front of him which was playing a scene that he shot down at a private beach by a resort.

"Why do you act like you're not incredible at what you do?" She asked in a teasing, chiding tone. "Because you  _are_."

"Just because you've got an talent for finding the beauty in everything, doesn't mean the rest of us do as well," Jace told her, tilting his head backwards to look up at her with a playful smile on his face. But Clary's smile dropped and her eyebrows pulled together and she shook her head at him.

"You're good at what you do, Jace. Don't just brush it off," she told him earnestly as she looked down at him, and he could see the seriousness in her face, even from their awkward position where she was standing over him and looking down at him from behind and Jace sitting down and tipping his head to look up at her. But even from the upside down angle, she was still the most beautiful girl that Jace had ever seen, and the soft sincerity in her eyes made his heart thud in his chest.

It made it harder to give her a crooked smile and pull away from her, lowering his head so he was looking back at the laptop, to where he was filming a girl in a bikini who was blowing a kiss at the camera. Clary ruffled his hair and then turned to go back into the adjoining kitchen.

"Are you gonna be here for dinner? Want me to make chilli?" She asked as she opened up the fridge door.

"Where else would I be for dinner?" Jace asked, tapping his fingers over the screen, saving the footage that he had already edited before shutting his laptop and getting up from his seat.

"I don't know," Clary ducked her head out from around the fridge door and smirked at Jace. "With Sebastian?"

"We're not..." Jace paused and cleared his throat. "We're not dating."

"You might not be  _exclusive_ , but I definitely get the vibe that you're at least  _dating_ ," Clary replied. "I mean, I know I've only just met him, but I've  _known_  that you were seeing someone for a while now, and after meeting him and seeing you guys together?" Clary took out a wine bottle from the fridge and closed the door, walking over to the bench and unscrewing the lid. "I can tell that you guys are totally into each other! I mean, the way that he was looking at you at the club?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "It looked as though he was about ten seconds away from ripping your clothes off."

Yeah.

Sebastian had definitely been horny after they had gone back to his place after the club.

To be fair, so was Jace.

He had all these images of the three of them twined together after Clary's teasing and brushing up against him.

It was never going to happen and even if it  _did_ , he didn't doubt for a second that it would just mess up his head even more than it was now, so he needed to just put them all out of his head.

"Jace?" Clary had poured herself a glass of wine and was looking at him expectantly.

"Uh, yeah," Jace blinked at her, clearing his head. "I don't know, I guess we're just taking it slow?" They had never discussed what they were or what they wanted from each other, and Jace  _really_  didn't want to talk about that with Clary, even though she was his best friend. She also happened to be the girl that he was trying to get over being in love with, and that really complicated things.

"Okay," Clary gave him a small smile, not asking him anything further. "So you're going to be home then?"

"Not going anywhere—especially if you're cooking chilli," he gave her a smile that he hoped come off as easy, because if she caught that there was something wrong, she was going to ask questions that he wasn't quite ready to answer. He wasn't ready to answer them to  _himself_  muchless anyone else.

"Alright," Clary nodded. "I'll get it all started so that it can simmer while I shower. You want to figure out what we're watching? I feel like a movie." Jace nodded as he walked into the lounge.

It was strange how one room could evoke such powerful emotions.

The lounge was nothing like the one he had grown up with or the one at the apartment that he had lived in with two roommates when he was at University. It was  _definitely_  nothing like the pit that had been a public area in the dorm rooms in his first year of university. It was colourful and full of life—maybe a little  _too_  colourful for Jace's liking, given the bright cushions that were strewn across the long, L shaped couch and the two arm chairs, a fluffy purple throw over the back of one of the arm chairs. There was a blown up photograph on the wall above the fire place that Clary had taken last year of a field of poppies. There were so many photos and random knick knacks in the room, Jace in a lot of the pictures, Clary in most of them as well. There was one with just the two of them together, taken a few years ago, when they were drunk after they graduated. Clary had jumped on Jace's back, arms wrapped around his neck, holding him tightly, and Jace was laughing, his head thrown back.

The room just reminded him of everything that Jace had, now that Clary was in his life.

He had grown up in a house that was in a good neighbourhood, and it had been a nice house, but it had been cold. His father, Stephen Herondale, had left them when Jace was ten, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He barely had any good memories of his father, the only things he really remembered was getting smacked around if he left his plate on the bench, or his shoes in the middle of the hallway, or his jersey on the couch. His mother, Celine Herondale, had never wanted kids, he had just been something that his father had apparently wanted, even though he had thrown him away like trash when he had gotten bored. Celine had pretty much let Jace do whatever he wanted, as long as he stayed out of her way and didn't make a mess—of the house  _and_  of her life.

There had never been photos and colour in the house.

It was all neat as a pin, not a thing out of place, looking like something in one of those show homes.

But where he was living now, it was nothing like that.

When he had first moved in with Clary, it had been a bit awkward, because while they had a history and they were friends, but they hadn't slipped into that completely comfortable relationship where they could just co-exist with one another. Originally, Alec had lived with them as well, although he had only been there for six months before he officially moved in Magnus. He had barely been there, and so it had just been Clary and Jace most of the time.

The way they lived was very different from each other—Clary was a colourful, almost psychotic mess and Jace liked everything in a clean and orderly fashion. They had clashed quite a bit to begin with, arguing about petty things like whose turn it was to do the dishes and the washing, and about Clary leaving shoes and clothes strewn around the house, and about her photography equipment in random places, and Jace having to line up their shoes in a perfect order every time he came into the house.

They made it work.

It took a while, but they made it work.

Clary cleaned up a bit better after herself while Jace loosened up a bit.

Alec and Isabelle had been the only thing that kept him sane when he was growing up, he spent most of his time at the Lightwoods. When he had moved into the dorms, he had made friends easily with his roommate and the guys in his building, but none of it was particularly lasting stuff. Even his flat mates when he moved out of his dorm and into an apartment, they were great, and they helped him adjust to living with other people, but it wasn't like with Clary.

She was like Alec and Isabelle, and she made sure he was living a life that he  _loved_.

Which was another reason Jace knew that nothing serious could happen between them.

Or, nothing  _romantic_.

Because he would be completely lost without her in his life.

"Jace?" Clary was giving him a confused look, so she must have said his name a couple of times before. Jace turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Jace told her, giving her a half smile. Clary stared at him for a moment before closing the gap between them, coming over to stand next to him and putting her arms around his waist. She was tiny compared to him, but her warmth felt like it surrounded all of him. She tipped her head back so that she was looking up at him, her green eyes expressive.

"You've been kind of weird lately," she noted, tightening her grip around his waist, hands slipping slightly so that they were latched at his lower back. "Not necessarily a bad-weird, just different. I think it's because of Sebastian."

"No— _what_? I haven't been—I haven't been acting weird," Jace stammered out, one of his arms going around Clary in an almost automatic gesture, his hand resting against her lower back.

"Yeah," she arched an eyebrow at him and snorted. "Right." Jace rolled his eyes. "Look, it's totally cool. I know that you're not into the whole 'talking about your feelings' thing. I mean, you're better than Alec—I've got no idea how Magnus manages to wheedle in there underneath that hard shell of his—but we've never really talked about any of your girlfriends or boyfriends." Clary pursed her lips together and tilted her head to the side, and her eyes seemed to get even bigger and Jace couldn't help but tilt his head to the side to match hers. "Or about if there's anything else on your mind..."

"Do we have to get into this right now?" Jace asked with a clench of his teeth. He wasn't angry, he just felt awkward at the way she was looking at him.

"No, we don't," Clary shook her head and smiled easily, giving him another squeeze. "I just want you to be happy, Jace." Jace stared down at her and he felt his heart beat harder in his chest before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to the tip of her nose. Clary's smile grew and her cheeks were pink and she closed her eyes before leaning forward and resting her head against his chest.

He wanted to kiss her on the mouth.

He wanted to pick her up and hug her tighter, so that their bodies were melding together, because when they were properly together, that was when everything felt good.

_But it was starting to feel the same with Sebastian._

"I was asking if you wanted to watch  _Snatch_?" Clary said and her grip on his waist loosened.

" _Snatch_?" Jace asked with a half grin. "You don't want to watch some rom-com shit?"

"Hey, if you're offering, we can totally watch  _Raising Helen_ or _10 Things I Hate About You_ ," Clary grinned playfully at him, and Jace was so grateful for the way she could just flip the mood so easily. She knew that he wasn't ready to talk about whatever it was that he and Sebastian had, she knew that he wasn't ready to talk about what was going on in his head, but she had still reached out to him and let him know that she was there when he was ready to talk. "I am  _completely_  down for that."

"I'm gonna go with  _Snatch_ ," Jace said with a thoughtful nod and Clary laughed.

"I thought so," she stated. "I could do with some Jason Statham and Brad Pitt in my life."

"You craving some muscle in your life?" Jace snorted. "Maia will be crushed."

"I'll have you know that Maia is perfect just the way she is," Clary shot back with a grin. "Besides, you know I'm not...I don't know,  _dating_  her or anything. Maia is totally cool with that. She knows I'm seeing other people." Jace raised an eyebrow at that. He knew that Clary and Maia weren't exclusive, he definitely knew that they weren't dating, but he  _didn't_  know that Clary was actually actively seeing other people.

"You're seeing other people?" Jace asked, hoping to keep his voice even.

"Just casually, you know I don't date," Clary shrugged as she headed back into the kitchen. "Anyway, I think we've talked about our dating lives enough. Unless you're willing to divulge all the dark and dirty secrets of you and Sebastian's love affair—" she wiggled her finger at him and Jace rolled his eyes at her, unable to hold back his grin. "Then I'm ready to move onto another topic. When is your recording due in?"

"Beginning of next week," Jace replied, scrunching up his nose as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Are you on track to have it done?" Clary asked as she began pulling things out of the fridge.

"Yeah, it'll be fine," he made a face. "Honestly this isn't much of a step up conversation wise, this is just gonna stress me out," he made another face and Clary hummed under her breath.

"Alright—well, I was thinking this weekend, we should go out," Clary easily switched again, knowing what Jace needed. "I'm thinking dinner and drinks—drag Alec out on one of the nights where he's not going to be working the next day so he can actually drink and get all crazy. I love it when Alec gets drunk," she smirked and Jace laughed as she began peeling an onion.

"I love it when Alec gets drunk  _and_  he's under the influence of Magnus," Jace added with a grin. " _That's_  something I always look forward to seeing."


	7. Chapter 7

Clary felt a shudder run through her body, her legs jerking as an orgasm built in her stomach and began travelling through her limbs. She tried to concentrate on what she was doing, circling her tongue around Maia's clit and pressing a finger inside her, but as her third orgasm of the evening crashed over her, her movements became sloppy and Maia was impatient, practically riding her face. Clary loved the way her senses were completely overwhelmed—the sweet, heady scent of Maia in her nose and the syrupy taste of her on her tongue. Then there was the way that Jordan Kyle was sucking on her clit and pressing two fingers into her ass which were rubbing at the thin membrane that separated his fingers from her g-spot. He knew what he was doing and it had been a long time since she had fooled around with a guy, and so his thick, rough fingers felt incredible inside her.

"C'mon, Clary," Maia was panting as she jerked her hips forward and Clary knew that the dark haired girl had her hands braced on the wall above her to give herself help as she searched for friction on Clary's face. Clary attempted to keep a rhythm with her fingers but then Jordan pushed two fingers into her pussy and her whole body jolted upward as another orgasm ripped through.

" _Fuck_!" Clary cried out, her words muffled against Maia's thigh. She bit down on the tender flesh and Maia let out a squeak, probably partly in pain, but the way that she had jolted had shoved her fingers even deeper into the woman, and so there was definitely pleasure in there as well. She forced herself to loosen her grip with her teeth in Maia's leg, and as she did, she pressed her thumb down on Maia's clit. Jordan's fingers slipped out of her, and she could feel her juices spilling out, along with some lube, mixing together on her thighs and onto the sheet below her.

"God, you two are beautiful," Jordan growled out, and Clary could feel him moving above her. He moved to straddle her and Clary knew that it was to get closer to Maia, which she didn't mind. There were movements above Clary which she just let happen because she was taking in a few deep breaths to calm herself back down after the orgasms she just had. She blinked as Maia began moving down, and Clary realized that Jordan was re-positioning Maia further down Clary's body.

"Shit," Maia let out a huff of laughter as she was moved down so she was hip to hip with Clary and their eyes met. "You're a mess," she stated breathlessly. She steadied herself on her knees, pressing them against Clary's hips, and one hand beside Clary's head on the pillow. She lifted her thumb and rubbed it against Clary's lips, wiping them of her juices before dipping her head forward to kiss her on the mouth. Clary responded in kind, this time able to concentrate on Maia without Jordan distracting her. She nipped at Maia's lower lip and lifted her hands to cover her breasts. Maia moaned into her mouth and Clary pinched at her nipples and then felt the girl over her jolted forward and there was pressure against her legs.

Clary heard grunts coming from Jordan, and from the way Maia was pressing down on her, she knew that Jordan was pushing into Maia from the way their bodies were rhythmically meeting Clary's, and she could feel Maia's short pubic hair grazing over her lower stomach. In the end, Maia was just breathing heavily against Clary's lips and the redhead settled for resting her hands on Maia's hips.

Afterwards, Clary wriggled herself over to the side of the bed since it became quickly obvious that Jordan was a cuddler after sex. Clary didn't really mind it, but she preferred it with people that she at least knew. She really didn't know anything about Jordan since about an hour and a half ago when she had come over to Maia's apartment. Maia seemed a lot more into it though, and they actually ended up falling asleep. Clary was falling in and out of the lull of sleep when she heard a phone buzzing. She blinked a few times, looking blearily down at the bunch of clothes on the ground. She looked over at Maia and Jordan who were still fast asleep and then sighed under her breath. The buzzing continued for another few seconds and then stopped.

Then it started again.

Clary grumbled under her breath and rolled herself over, stretching out her arm to grab for any of the clothes she could reach and pulling them over to herself. The buzzing got closer and closer to her and she found her jeans and fumbled to pull out her phone. Jace's name was displaying on the screen and she sighed as she looked at the top of the screen where it said that it was almost midnight. She was about to swipe her thumb over the glass to answer the call when it ended, and notifications flashed on her screen. There were the two missed calls from Jace, and then one from Isabelle from earlier, and a text from Magnus before the calls. His message was barely comprehensible

_I thgk kace is fyyyyykd._

Even predictive text couldn't save him from whatever state he was in.

"'The fuck?" She croaked, her mouth feeling dry and she realized she had probably actually fallen asleep, not just slipped in and out like she though. She sat up, rolling her shoulders and arching her back, hearing it pop before she got up off the bed. The apartment wasn't cold but it wasn't warm either, and without the body heat of Maia and Jordan nearby and the blanket that had been over her legs, Clary shivered as she walked into the kitchen, putting space between her and the bed to call back Jace. The call rang and rang and the thought it was going to go to voice mail when Jace finally picked up. "Hello?"

"Clary?!" Jace's voice was so loud that she had to pulled her phone away from her ear. She couldn't help but smile and shake her head.

" _Hey, Jace_ ," Clary sung out softly to him. "What's up?"

"I need..." Jace drifted off and she could hear talking and music in the background. "Izzy! It's Clary!" He was yelling too loud again and she had to pull her phone away from her ear again. She glanced over her shoulder but Maia and Jordan were both still fast asleep. "Clary, Izzy's coming!" He announced into her ear and she let out another laugh. Jace sounded as though he was scrabbling with his phone, like maybe he had dropped it, and then it was being shifted around and Isabelle came on.

"Clary!" At least she sounded a bit more sober. "We need you to come and pick Jace up!"

"You guys alright?" She asked.

"Well, we all decided to go out for a drink, and we're getting a cab back to Alec's place, but your guys place is in the opposite direction and we can't all get into cab," Isabelle explained. She  _definitely_  sounded more sober than Jace, but she could hear the slight slur in her words. "Are you good to come and pick him up?" It was a Thursday night, and often on Thursday's they would go out to one of their favourite bars,  _Little George_ , because it was half price on drinks. Alec had text her that morning and asked her if she wanted to come over, but Maia had already asked if she wanted to come over for dinner and a movie.

Turned out dinner and a movie meant sex, and Clary found it hilarious that men and woman really  _weren't_  that different.

"Yeah, that's fine," Clary replied. "I can be there in about twenty minutes." They were often each others sober drivers—more often than not, it was  _Jace_  who was the sober one because Clary had him twisted around her little finger. Alec would also drive for them, but if they both wanted to drink, usually they would just get an uber.

"Great!" Isabelle made a kissing noise into the phone and just as Clary was about to pull the phone away from her phone, she heard Isabelle announcing to the others that Clary was coming and a cheer went up. Clary grinned and walked back over to her pile of clothes. There were lights coming through the windows and Maia's TV was turned on, although it was on mute, and the light from there as well helped her find all of her clothes and get dressed. Her hair was a mess from where she had been pushed down on the pillow for so long, so she settled for tying it up in a bun. Maia and Jordan were  _still_  asleep, and so Clary guessed that they were probably out for the night, and she snatched up her keys from where she had dropped them on the couch and walked out the front door.

It didn't take too long to get to the bar, given the time of night and the fact the bar wasn't in the middle of the city, but in the surrounding suburbs where they all lived. Clary found a parking spot and headed inside. She was under-dressed compared to a lot of the people around her, but her jeans were tight and made her ass look amazing, and even though her hair was a mess, she totally had that after-sex glow going on, so she was confident as she walked toward the back of the bar where they usually sat. Magnus was standing beside the table and Clary snorted as she saw the long, dark jacket that he was wearing that had glitter twined through it, so it caught the lights when he moved.

That had been  _her_  jacket until about six months ago when Magnus had told her that it would suit him better and he had claimed it from her wardrobe.

"Clary!" Isabelle cried out as she spotted her, and Magnus spun around—a little unsteadily. `

"My little Clare Bear!" Magnus threw his arms around her and Clary needed to take a step back given the weight he leaned on her and she laughed.

"You guys all seem to be...Having a good time," she grinned around at them, noting the amount of empty glasses and bottles on the table. The whole bar itself was quite busy, which must be why the wait staff hadn't come over to clear off the table.

"Yes, but I think we need to be going now," Alec said pointedly as he glanced around the table. There were groans from Jace, Isabelle, Simon and Magnus at that comment and Clary grinned again. Of  _course_  it was Alec who was ending the night, it usually was. He was sort of the dad figure of their group, making sure they didn't stay out too late on nights like this when most of them had work the next morning, and even though they acted as though he was a drag, they appreciated it.

" _Fine_ ," Jace stuck out his lower lip, pouting across at Alec who just rolled his eyes. Jace picked up the beer bottle in front of him, quickly finishing off the rest of liquid and then swinging his bar stool around. "Let's go!" He announced as he reached an arm for Clary. Clary shifted from where she was beside Magnus so that she was in front of Jace, and he tossed his arm over her shoulder and used her to balance himself as he go off the bar stool and steadied himself on the ground.

"How much have you had to drink?" Clary asked with a laugh.

"Not enough!" Jace made a face. "I was going to go and see Sebastian."

"You don't need to be drunk to go and see Sebastian," Clary pointed out. Jace looked as though he had something to say, but even in his drunken state, he pursed his lips together and his eyes slid away. Clary felt her eyebrows pull together, because there was obviously something there that he hadn't told her. She glanced over at Isabelle, who was watching them with a confused expression, so it seemed as though Jace hadn't talked about whatever it was that was keeping him from seeing Sebastian. "Alright, well, I think it's about time that we get you home." Jace nodded and gave Isabelle a hug and said his goodbyes to Alec and Magnus before following Clary out of the bar.

"Where were you?" Jace asked as they stepped into the night air. Jace stopped to dig around in his pocket, and Clary paused next to him as he got out a pack of cigarettes and fumbled in another pocket for his lighter. He didn't smoke often, that was Clary's vice, but when he was drinking, he usually puffed his way through two or three. He flicked his thumb over it a few times, but he kept slipping off the roll of the lighter, the flame never burning for longer.

"At Maia's," Clary replied as she stepped forward to take the lighter from Jace. He let her take it and she cupped the end of the cigarette, easily lighting the flame and burning the end of the cigarette. Jace took in an appreciative drag and nodded at her, taking the lighter back.

"Thanks," he muttered before continuing to walk. There were a couple of girls who were hanging around at the table and chairs outside the bar, smoking, and Jace glanced over them as a few gave him fuck-me eyes, and then carried on after Clary.

"So what's this about needing to be drunk to see Sebastian?" Clary prompted as they reached her car. She pressed the button on her fob and the lights flashed on the car as it unlocked. They both got in, and as Clary turned on the engine, Jace pressed on the button to lower his window so that he could hang his cigarette out. He didn't answer her as she reversed out of the parking spot and turned the music on her stereo up a little. She gave him a few more minutes before asking again. "Jace? What's going on with you and Sebastian?"

"Nothing," he mumbled. Jace didn't sound annoyed at her, but he didn't sound as though he wanted to open up. That was unusual, because even though Clary was more open that Jace was, he still spoke to her about what was going on in his life.

Then again, he had been  _very_  private about Sebastian.

"Okay..." Clary didn't want to push him, so she settled for reaching over and putting her hand on his thigh, giving it a slight squeeze. "Anything that you want to talk about, though, you know I'm here if you need to talk." Jace just jerked his head in a nod and didn't say anything as he continued smoking. Clary took her hand off his knee and turned her music up even louder as they kept driving. They were almost back to their place when Jace sighed, flicking his cigarette butt out the window and doing it up.

"I had a fight with Sebastian," he stated. Clary's eyebrows lifted as she glanced over at him, before indicating to pull down their road.

"A fight?" She asked in surprise, feeling taken aback. Her and Jace had had a number of disagreements over the years, that was what happened when you were close friends with someone over a long period of time, especially when you lived together. But she would never class any of them as a  _fight_. Clary was certainly fiery enough to get into a fight, but Jace wasn't, he managed to diffuse things quickly, because he wasn't the type of guy that got into big arguments. He didn't like tension, and even when he wasn't the one in the wrong, he would try to smooth things over reasonably quickly.

"Maybe not a fight..." Jace admitted with a shrug and Clary calmed down a bit, because that sounded a lot better. "But it felt like one." Something else that more like Jace, because he took them all to heart. He didn't expand anymore, and so Clary didn't ask anything else as they pulled into their driveway. Clary got out of the car first and walked quickly around to Jace's side of the car, helping him get out and putting an arm around him and helping him into the house. "I'm good," Jace told her as they got inside, and Clary grinned as he attempt to take off his shoes and nearly toppled right over.

"Hold on," Clary said, giving him a gentle nudge so that he was leaning against the wall and she knelt down to unlace his shoes. She took them off, one foot at a time, and then put tossed them toward the other shoes. When she looked up, she was smirking, because she was expecting Jace to be looking down at her in annoyance for not lining up the shoes like he usually did. But he was just staring at her with a strange, almost sad look on his face. The smile dropped off her face as she straightened up. "Come on," she murmured, pulling at his hand and leading him down the hallway.

Jace got into bed, still fully clothed just without his jacket, and he was asleep within a couple of seconds. Clary watched him, arms folded over her chest, trying to decipher what was going on with her best friend and roommate.

As she turned around to leave, she picked up the jacket that he had tossed toward the chair in the corner of his room. She hung it properly over the back of the chair so that it wouldn't be creased or folded wrong, and then after a moment, she slipped her hand into the pocket of the jacket and took out his phone. She knew his passcode and quickly typed it in and then found Sebastian's name.

_It's Clary. Come over. Door is unlocked, lock it up behind you._

Clary bit down on her lip, hovering over the send button, and then tapped her thumb down. She put the phone on the table beside his bed and went to her room.


	8. Chapter 8

Clary didn't need to be anywhere on Friday morning, and so when she got out of bed just after ten, she didn't bother changing. Jace was usually gone on Fridays—he went to the gym on Friday morning and then usually had a set to get to. Clary walked into the kitchen and turned on the shower and then walked out to the lounge as she waited for it to heat up. She filled the coffee maker and turned it on, taking a bottle of water out of the fridge and sipping on it before leaving it with the cap off on the bench before walking into the lounge. Clary turned on the speakers that were plugged into their smart TV and accessed their music library. When the first song started playing, a Cardi B song that Jace absolutely detested, Clary turned the dial up high so that she would still be able to hear it in the bathroom. She wiggled her hips, tipping her head to the side a few times and then walking over to the windows and opening the curtains.

"Seriously?" Came a grunt that Clary only just heard over the music because she had just turned back towards the kitchen. She let out a surprised squeak and then narrowed her eyes at Jace.

"Fuck. You can't make some noise to let me know you're around?" She asked with a roll of her eyes. Jace just rolled his eyes back at her as he let out grumble as he picked up the cap she had left on the bench, screwing it back onto her bottle of water and putting it into the fridge while she walked over to the last set of windows to open the curtains. Jace took three cups out of the cupboard and put them onto the bench, and then leaned his hip against the bench and let out a groan as he rubbed his hands over his eyes.

"Can you turn that shit down?" Jace grunted again and Clary walked over the speakers, turning down the volume before coming into the kitchen where he was. His shaggy hair was all ruffled and looked a bit knotted on one side, so he had clearly slept heavily on that one side. Clary pushed off the ground so that she was sitting on the bench and put a hand on his shoulder, tugging him to take a few steps closer to her.

"C'mere," she told him softly and directed him until he was standing between her legs. His temperature was running hot, like usual, and he was shirtless, only wearing a pair of loose fitted sweatpants that were hanging low on his hips. Clary couldn't help but let her eyes sweep appreciatively over him before she threaded her fingers through his golden hair. "You need to get a hair cut soon," she murmured under her breath as she tugged her fingers through his hair, un-knotting it gently and massaging his scalp. Jace relaxed underneath her touches, tipping his head forward and letting out a few heavy sighs. Clary rubbed her fingers through his hair, continued to massage it once it was all untangled, and his head ended up tipped all the way forward so that his forehead was resting on her shoulder. Clary smiled at the way he was humming under his breath in contentment, but she was pulled out of her little lull by what Jace had said last night, and then what she had done after he had gone to bed. "Jace?" She murmured as she tugged on his hair and he lifted his head.

"Mm?" He asked, his eyes looking a little blearily, clearly still a bit hungover, tired and then also relaxed from Clary's ministrations.

"Did Sebastian come over last night?" She asked him softly. Jace's eyes widened slightly and focused on her.

"Did you hear him come in?"

"Well, that answers my question," Clary grinned. "No, I didn't, but I did text him after you went to sleep. You guys were pretty damn quiet last night, though. I didn't hear a thing," she wiggled her eyebrows at him cheekily, but Jace just pursed his lips together and looked down. "Hey," Clary frowned, the smile gone as she gave his shoulder a squeeze. "What's wrong? He's here, isn't he? Whatever argument you guys had is over?"

"I don't know," Jace shrugged.

"Jace, don't be an idiot," Clary sighed. "You really like this guy. He seems to really like you. Just—get over what happened and move on." Jace looked back up at her and there was a conflict on his face that she didn't understand. "What was it about...In the first place?" Jace swallowed hard and it looked as though he was trying to find the words, but then Sebastian walked through the kitchen door, bleary eyed and wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose fitted shirt that still managed to show off his bulging biceps.

"Uh—the shower is running?" Sebastian's voice was rough with sleep as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "The hallway is filled with steam."

"Ah, shit," Clary made a face and tapped on Jace's shoulders to push him backwards. He stepped back so that she could slip off the bench. "Make sure you refill that coffee pot when you guys drink it all!" She reminded over her shoulder before skipping out of the room. She wanted to stay and see Sebastian and Jace interact, maybe try and smooth things over if they were still tense, but she didn't. She went into the bathroom, kicking the door shut with her foot as she began pulling off her shirt and underwear, tossing them in the direction of the corner of the bathroom.

* * *

Sebastian had been surprised to get the text last night, although it made sense that it was Clary reaching out and not Jace. Not that he wasn't happy about it, he had felt bad about how things had gone the last time they were together, and he had text Jace a couple of times to try and resolve things. When Jace had ignored him, Sebastian had stopped.

He wasn't a teenager anymore, and he wasn't interested in playing any games, chasing after someone who wasn't ready to talk.

But when he had gotten the text from Clary off Jace's phone, Sebastian couldn't help but respond. He had text back, but then hadn't gotten any response, and so after he had finished his shift at the night club, he had come by Jace and Clary's home. It was two hours after Clary's text, and he definitely need to speak with both of them about being more careful when leaving their doors unlocked, but that was something for another day.

Jace had it bad for Clary.

He acted as though it was some big secret, but Sebastian had only seen them together three times and he could blatantly see it, even if he hadn't put it together from the way Jace spoke about her. If Sebastian could work it out so easily, he was guessing that the rest of their friends knew. Before he had met Clary, he had thought that she  _must_  know, given how obvious Jace's face lit up whenever she was mentioned or he said her name.

But then he had met Clary, and she was one of  _those_  girls.

Those girls who were blissfully unaware of how charming they were. She definitely knew she was beautiful and that she had an affect on  _both_  sexes, but she just didn't know how many hearts she had undoubtedly broken in her life time. Sebastian had met quite a few people like her in his life—both men and woman. They were free spirited and loved often and fleetingly and just assumed that everyone else was the same as her, so they didn't realize how many people were falling for them, or that when their attention shifted, they would leave a trail of broken hearts behind them.

Sebastian didn't have anything against people like that.

Not at all.

He loved the way that they loved life, and from being around Clary, it was obvious how much she did, and how much she loved the people in her life. And even if her attention didn't stay on one thing for very long, her care people, especially Jace, was clear.

Sebastian liked that.

He respected it.

And he had no problem with admitting he could see the attraction to Clary. She was beautiful and caring and funny.

It was just that Jace was obviously trying to make a decision between the two, not seeing any other option, and Sebastian didn't want to rush anything, but he already knew how he felt about Jace. He also knew that there was another option other than  _choosing_ one of them, but that wasn't only his decision to make.

"I think we should talk," Sebastian cleared his throat as he heard Clary close the bathroom door behind her, and the sound of the water hitting the walls and floor of the shower before it was silenced. Jace bit down on his lower lip and crossed his arms over his chest, a definite sign of someone trying to protect themselves. Sebastian didn't like that and he walked forward, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. "Don't be like that," he said softly. "I don't want you to feel awkward or uncomfortable."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have asked me why I haven't told Clary that I loved her," Jace muttered, still not unfolding his arms, his shoulders tensed. Sebastian sighed and slid his hands further down Jace's arm, toward his hand, giving it a tug, trying to pull it out of it's folded position.

"Jace..." Sebastian sighed. "You know I didn't mean to back you into a corner."

"Because I've been  _so_  open about talking about my feelings for her every other time you've brought it up," Jace's voice was tense and Sebastian stopped trying to tug at his hand. Instead, he dropped his hand so that it was resting on Jace's hip. Jace was tall, just over six feet, but Sebastian was even bigger, two inches taller than him, and he had a lot more muscle bulk than Jace. So when he took a step closer, the gap between them shrinking, Jace had to blink up at him with big, golden eyes.

Sebastian could see arousal flickering in their depths as well, even though Jace was trying to tamper that down.

"I only asked because I'm serious about what we have," Sebastian admitted, even though that wasn't really something that he had been prepared to divulge. It wasn't that he was scared of commitment—far from it. He had been serious about what he and Jace had from the first time they had spoken properly. But it was Jace that didn't seem ready for a relationship.

A big reason of that being Clary.

"Wh—you are?" Jace frowned. "I thought this shit was just some fun."

"Maybe for you," Sebastian didn't like thinking that, but it could be the case. "But it stopped being that for me pretty quickly." Jace looked taken aback, and his arms weren't crossed quite as tightly as they were before. Sebastian squeezed Jace's hip. "Look, I'm not trying to put you in a bad spot. Clary's someone who is incredibly important to you—she's  _family_  to you, as far as I can tell." Jace swallowed hard but he didn't disagree with Sebastian, so he took that as a good sign. "I just know that there's no way that we can properly move forward when what you have with Clary is unresolved." Jace stared at him, and then he sighed, dropping his gaze.

"I get you," he stated, his voice quiet. "But it's not that easy."

"I know," Sebastian nodded, giving his hip another squeeze. "And I'm not rushing you. This thing we have is new and it's not—it's not a relationship yet. I just want you to know that _I know_  that's something that needs to happen before there can be a proper us." Jace nodded and looked back up at him.

Jace could be cheeky.

He could be slightly arrogant and sarcastic.

He could even be a bit loud.

But there was something that changed in Jace when he was around Sebastian, and the older man both liked and disliked it. He liked that there was a softer, a more uncertain side of Jace that he didn't seem to show many people, but for some reason had decided that Sebastian was worthy to see. But then on the other hand, he disliked it because he wasn't sure if Jace was letting him see this side because he didn't think Sebastian would like him if he showed him the other side.

That was something for another day, though.

It was something that he liked seeing when Jace and Clary were together, that both had a teasing, playful vibe when they were together.

"Do you want coffee?" Jace asked, his voice coming out in a rasp, and his cheeks reddened slightly as he heard himself. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Do you want some coffee?" Sebastian grinned and nodded, taking a step back and letting his hands slip into his pockets. Jace turned around and busied himself with pouring coffee into two cups. He went to the fridge and took out the bottle of milk. Sebastian walked past Jace and into the lounge, looking around, hands still in the pockets of his sweatpants. He hadn't really been in the rest of the house, other than a few quick walk throughs, and he took his time looking around now.

"Did Clary take this?" Sebastian asked as he walked over to the far wall, beside a tall, wooden and wrought-iron set of shelves. Next to it was a photo of a close up photo of three water lilies. It had obviously been taken on an extremely high resolution camera, because the detail was crisp, right down to a drop of water on one of the petals.

"Yeah," Jace nodded as he joined the other man in the lounge, carrying the two cups of coffee. "It was in her last year of university, she put it in her final showcase." Sebastian took the cup of coffee off Jace and took a step toward the shelves. There were knick knacks and photos and the stereo system there and he took his time, looking over the photos of Jace and Clary and their friends. The music was still playing, although not very loud, and Sebastian's lips curled as he heard the music.

"Cardi B?" He asked with a grin.

"Clary's choice," Jace groaned. "Not mine."

"You don't like Cardi?" Sebastian asked with widened eyes, feigning a scandalized expression. Jace studied him for a moment, eyebrows pulled together, as though trying to figure out if Sebastian was being serious or not.

"Fucking hell. You too?" He asked with a grimace.

"Hey, I love the girl," Sebastian grinned.

"So does Clary," Jace made a face as he went to sit down on the long, L-shaped couch that had two fluffy throws over the back it and multiple plushy cushions that he sunk into. "She has made me watch  _so many_  videos of her on Youtube, that I feel like maybe before, I would have thought that she was okay, but then I've been completely overloaded with her, and it just makes me hate her." Sebastian just shook his head, a disappointed look on his face and Jace just rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone act as though I've kicked their dog when I say that?!"

"Kicking my imaginary dog would be  _better_  than saying you don't like Queen B!" Clary shouted from down the hallway and Jace snorted.

"I'm pretty sure you're using that name for the wrong B singer!" Jace shouted back.

"Am not!"

"Are too!" Jace retorted and there was a loud laugh from the hallway and then the sound of a door shutting. Sebastian shook his head and laughed before taking a sip of coffee.

"I swear that's the quickest shower I've ever heard a girl take," Sebastian noted.

"She gets FOMO," Jace replied.

"FOMO?" Sebastian quirked an eyebrow.

"Fear of missing out," Jace said with a shrug. "She likes to be involved." Sebastian grinned, because that was what he had surmised from just the couple of times that he had met her. He didn't mind though, she was fun to be around. They continued talking—avoiding any mention of Cardi B, because clearly that was a touchy subject—until Clary came out. Her hair was braided and hanging over her shoulder and she was wearing a light blue hoodie and a pair of mini shorts.

"So," she grinned as she bounced onto the couch between them. "Did you guys fuck and make up yet?"

There was a simultaneous groan from Jace and snort from Sebastian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, or today is that day for a lot of you, the 10th.  
> Please be kind to each other, people have so much going on in their heads that just isn't obvious from the outside.  
> Much love xx


	9. Chapter 9

Clary skipped down the concrete steps of the university. There were students crowding the steps, some of them standing, some of them sitting, quite a few in couples and clearly in no rush to get anywhere. Clary wasn't in any particular rush either, although she was in a good mood, and so there was a spring in her step. She was wearing a short, light green dress that fluttered around her thighs, and a wedge heeled shoes with ribbons that tied around her ankles.

There were a couple of appreciative looks from people as she passed, but her eyes caught on one person, and she ignored everyone else.

"Sebastian?" She called out, slowing her walk. Sebastian's head jerked up at hearing his name from looking at his phone, glancing around before finding her. He gave her a wide smile and started walking over. Clary liked that, how he looked completely comfortable with coming over to her. Some people felt uncomfortable around people they didn't know very well, and she was never really good with them, even though she could completely respect that everyone was different.

"Hey, Clary," Sebastian smiled at her as he leaned in to give her a short hug.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she looked over his shoulder, wondering if he was there with anyone.

"I could ask you the same thing," Sebastian replied easily as he moved to stand more to the side, leaning against the railing. Clary couldn't help but let her eyes drift over him, the casual jeans he was wearing and white and pink tee-shirt that was tight around his biceps. She wasn't doing it in a way where she was going to make a  _move_  or anything, just general appreciation for his physique. She's sure Jace would understand. "Aren't you some big shot photographer now?" His words had a familiar, teasing edge to them, as though they were old friends.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Clary rolled her eyes, cocking her hip to lean against the railing as well, one step above him and still an inch or so shorter than him. "I took one good photo."

"It was a  _beautiful_  photo," Sebastian told her sincerely and Clary blinked at him, a little surprised. "And I've seen other photos that you've taken as well, and they're incredible as well," he quirked an eyebrow. "Although, you don't strike me as someone who needs to be told that you're good at something." Clary blinked again.

"Uh, yeah...Right," she didn't really know what to say to that. "Anyway—what were you doing here?"

"I'm taking classes," Sebastian replied, nodding down at his arm, and Clary noticed a two books clasped in his hand, along with his wallet and his phone.

"In...What?" Clary asked.

"Well, just _a_  class," Sebastian corrected himself. "It's a management course. It's not going to get me any degree or anything at the end of it, just a certificate with a qualification, it's only for a couple of months, it's just in one of the rooms here."

"A management course?" Clary prompted him with an interested expression on her face.

"Yeah," Sebastian nodded. "Um," he twisted his mouth together as he thought for a moment, not too sure how much Jace had told her. "So, obviously I do security work. Bouncer at a couple of clubs a few nights a week and stuff." Clary nodded. "I do security through the day at a hotel in town,  _The Carmen_."

"Ooh, that place is nice," Clary hummed out. She had been there once with a guy she had known from Chicago, who was in town visiting for a weekend. It had been a nice experience, even if they had barely left the bedroom.

"Yeah, that's my main job, I guess I could call it," Sebastian continued. "And one of the supervisors is leaving because his wife got a promotion and they're moving to Chicago. It's not for another few months, but once he's gone, there's going to be a job opening, and one of our assistant managers has been talking about retiring, which means that there's room for a supervisor position to turn into something  _more_. My boss is a good, and he said if I can just get something else on my resume, then he'll make sure I'm in the top choices to get the job."

"So you're taking a course?"

"Yup," Sebastian nodded. "Sort of a bit weird being back in school after ten years, but I like it."

"Ten  _years_?" Clary's green eyes widened. "How old are you?!" Sebastian laughed, his dark eyes twinkling.

"I'll be twenty-eight next month," he answered.

"Oh, shit," Clary giggled. "I thought you were the same age as us."

"Because five years makes  _such_  a difference," he smirked.

"Oh, absolutely," Clary gave him a mock-knowing look. "You're already over that hump of halfway to fifty." Sebastian shook his head and just grinned back at her. "Well..." Clary looked back at the books in his hands and then met his eyes again. "I should probably let you go."

"I was actually just leaving, so...I can walk you out to your car," Sebastian offered.

" _Or_ ," Clary wiggled her eyebrows at him. "I'm meeting up with Jace for coffee just down the block if you want to come." She knew that he and Jace had had some sort of fight, but then Sebastian had come over the week when Jace was drunk and things had seemed between them. She wasn't sure if Jace had been out to see him very much, because she had been spending a lot of time at Magnus and Alec's apartment the past two weeks because of the project she was working on for him, but she hoped so.

Jace deserved to be happy.

"Yeah, sure," Sebastian smiled easily, and she took that as a good sign. She didn't bother texting Jace, because they were only a few minutes away anyway, and she had already text him before she had seen Sebastian to say that she was on her way. They walked down the rest of the stairs, Sebastian pausing to let her in front of him when they got a narrow part where there were a lot of people blocking the steps. Once they got off university grounds, it was only a few minutes walk until the coffee house where Jace was already waiting.

"So, do I need to ask you about your intentions with my best friend?" Clary asked with a grin, the bounce in her step back, the braids her hair was in jumping slightly against her back and shoulders.

"I don't think I could take you seriously if you tried to give me 'the talk'," Sebastian mused and Clary narrowed her eyes playfully.

"For your information, I can be very intimidating," she sniffed and Sebastian.

"It's a little hard to think that with ribbons around your legs and your hair in braids," he noted and Clary rolled her eyes at him.

" _Anyway_ ," she continued, as though what he had just said hadn't made a difference. "I'm sure I won't have to do anything too drastic to you, since it's obvious you're already head over heels for Jace," her words were sly and knowing as she looked over at him from under her eyelashes. Sebastian just smiled back at her, not answering, and Clary laughed, not pushing it any further. When they reached the coffee house, Sebastian pulled open the door, waiting for Clary to go walk inside first, letting her lead the way.

"Hey, Cl—Sebastian?" Jace looked confused where he was sitting down at a seat in one of the corner tables. It was modern looking place, with cushions and scraps of material over everything, and Jace was sitting on the wall side of the table, on a long couch.

"I ran into him at the university," Clary said with a grin as she pulled out a seat on the opposite side of the table, and then purposefully put her bag down on the seat beside her so that Sebastian had to go and sit on the couch next to Jace. They didn't kiss hello or anything, but Sebastian put his hand on Jace's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before he made himself comfortable, and Jace gave him a small, intimate smile that Clary liked. They looked good next to each other. "And I invited him along."

"What were you doing at the university?" Jace asked, twisting his body a bit to the side so that he was partially facing Sebastian and yet still open to Clary. Sebastian started telling Jace pretty much what he had already told Clary. A waitress came over to get their order and then left, and Sebastian continued. Once he had finished, and their drinks had been brought over and told that their food wouldn't be far away.

"You never actually told me what  _you_  were doing there," Sebastian said as he picked up his coffee cup.

"Oh, yeah," Clary grinned as she dipped her finger into the cream that was swirled around in a mountain on top of her drink. "One of Magnus' friends helps out a lot with the fashion students here, and she picks out a lot of them to start interning with clothing lines and stuff. Anyway, they have a show coming up, their final show, and she wants me to document the whole thing, takes photos and shit, it helps with the students portfolio."

"And  _that's_  why you haven't been around," Jace feigned an annoyed expression but Clary just grinned back at him. She ate the cream off the top of her drinks first, swiping at some of it with her finger, scooping some of it with her spoon, and not realizing that both men were paying pretty close attention to her movements.

"Don't worry, the show is next week, and then I'll be back," Clary grinned at them and then smiled widely up at the waitress came back with their food. Clary had ordered a huge sandwich which was already pretty much falling apart, Jace had gone with breakfast for lunch and Sebastian had already eaten, so he just got a muffin. Sebastian watched with interest as Clary took the pickles off her sandwich and put them on Jace's plate, and he stabbed the mushrooms on his plate and put them on hers.

They had a very casual intimacy between the pair of them, and it wasn't just in a friendship way.

"So, Sebastian said that it was his birthday next month," Clary wiggled around in her seat, her eyes flicking between the pair of them. "Do you have any big plans?"

"Nope," Sebastian shook his head.

"I didn't know it was your birthday next month," Jace said at the same time, nudging Sebastian in the side. The taller man just shrugged as he shoved almost half the muffin into his mouth at once. Clary kept eating for a few minutes, Jace and Sebastian shifting the topic of conversation to some new TV series that was coming out that they both wanted to watch when her head shot up.

"Oh my god," Clary stated, and with the way her whole body jerked up, she bumped the table with her knees and her fork slid off where it was balancing against the side of her plate. "I've got the best idea for your birthday."

"You're sticking with that, huh?" Sebastian asked with an amused tone. "How do you know an old guy like me would be interested in the same thing that you are?" Clary rolled her eyes at the gentle jab at their previous conversation.

"Because  _everyone_  would be okay with this fun.  _Trust me_ ," there was a sparkle in her eye that Jace had learnt to be very wary of.

"Cla-ry," Jace dragged her name out and gave her a pointed look.

"No, no, this is awesome," Clary continued, and she was pulling open her bag and fumbling around inside, obviously not bothered by the fact that half of her food was now completely forgotten. She pulled out her phone and tapped away at the screen, still smiling almost manically, doing a little wiggle around in her seat that she did when she got excited. Sebastian gave Jace a questioning look, and Jace just shrugged going back to his food. Sebastian decided to do the same, although he couldn't help but looked up at Clary every few minutes as she was busy on her phone, but she didn't look up at either of them.

"Are you going to finish that?" Jace asked, although he was already pulling her plate toward him. Clary just waved a hand at him non-committedly, and Jace seemed to take that as a go ahead as he picked up her sandwich and bit into it.

"Okay," Clary said, still sounding distracted, after a few minutes. "I need to go and make some calls," she flashed a smile at both of them as she stood up and grabbed her bag. "I'll get back to you about the birthday thing though, yeah? I'll get your number from Jace," she grinned at Sebastian before coming around to the side of the table so she could throw an arm around Jace and hug him tightly, pressing a sloppy to his cheek. "I'll probably be home tonight, yeah? We could do dinner and a movie?"

"Uh," Jace looked across at Sebastian, wetting his lips with his tongue before looking back at Clary. "I'm not actually going to be home." Jace actually sounded nervous, although Clary didn't pick up on it, she was clearly distracted.

"That's  _totally_  fine," Clary smirked over at Sebastian before she was skipping out of the store.

"Did she just leave the bill for us to pick up?" Sebastian asked in an amused tone.

"That happens a lot," Jace rolled his eyes affectionately. "But she more than makes up for it. I don't pay rent, and when there's shit that needs to be fixed around the house or anything, she never tells me, she just pays to get it fixed. Sometimes I realize and transfer her money, sometimes I don't and she just doesn't care."

"Shit," Sebastian quirked an eyebrow. "If she's covering the rent on that place all by herself, then she must be making some damn good money."

"Oh, nah, place is her dads.  _Was_  her dads," Jace corrected himself. "He died a couple of years ago and left the place to Clary and her brother. Neither of them have...Particularly good memories with him, and so I don't think either of them really wanted to take the place. But after we finished university and moved back here, Clary decided she might as well take the place, and she asked me to move in with her."

"Did her parents die around the same time?" Sebastian prompted. "I remember you saying that her mum died a few years ago as well."

"They died within a year of each other—two completely unrelated causes. Her mother died in a car accident and her dad had cancer that they caught far too late. She was closer to her mum than she was to her dad, so Jocelyn dying impacted her a lot more," Jace shrugged a shoulder. "She doesn't like talking about it much, though.  _Either_  of them."

"I can understand that. Parents can cause all kinds of messy shit in your head," Sebastian murmured, picking up his coffee cup and finishing off its contents. Jace raised an eyebrow at Sebastian, waiting for him to go on, but he didn't, so Jace didn't push it.

"Her brother doesn't care that she has the house, he lives in Las Vegas with his girlfriend. Both their parents left them money as well, so they agreed he got most of that, since she got the house, which Clary was totally fine with. Money doesn't really register on the scale of things that Clary wants," Jace pushed away the two plates in front of him, leaning back into the couch.

"You've said before that Clary just wants to be happy. To do what makes her happy, and be happy with her friends and family," Sebastian said quietly and Jace nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Pretty much," Jace nodded and smiled.

"You seem to make her happy," Sebastian commented. Jace's smile faltered and he shot a look over at Sebastian, but the taller man didn't say anything else, just let the words hang in the air. "So," Sebastian reached out and spread his hand out on Jace's thigh. "You got any idea what Clary has got planned for my birthday? I was honestly going to be totally fine with just going out for drinks or something."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen now," Jace snorted, and he let his hand fall from the tap to overlap Sebastian's. "Once Clary set's her mind to something, it tends to get a little out of hand."

"Should I be worried?" Sebastian asked with a laugh.

"It's usually a  _good_  out of hand," Jace assured him, giving his hand a squeeze. " _Usually_." Sebastian shook his head and then looked at Jace with a gleam in his eye.

"You're not going home tonight, huh?" He asked.

"You got any other plans that I would interrupting if I came over?" Jace laced his fingers through Sebastian's.

"None at all."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update! Thanks for the patience :)

The house was quiet as Jace pushed open the door for his room. Clary was at Isabelle's, they were having a girls night because Simon had some work thing on and wasn't going to be home until the early hours of the morning. Sebastian was working security, which meant he wouldn't be getting off until around three or four in the morning, and there wasn't much point in him coming to Jace's after since Jace would just be waking up a few hours after he arrived. It was already after seven, because Jace had ended up going out for dinner with Alec and Magnus after he had finished at a job interview with the public relations department of a car company. He would only be a contractor, but that was something that he wanted, so that he still had room to look at other jobs as well, to keep things interesting.

He thought he had a pretty good shot at the job, actually. He felt confident about it.

Sebastian had come to see him at lunch and then just before his interview, Clary had met him and brought coffee from his favourite place.

Jace licked his lips and carefully put his laptop bag on top of the desk in the corner of his room and shrugged out of his jacket. He ran his fingers through his hair and idly thought that he should probably go and have a shower, but it had been a long day. He'd been up since five, out of the house well before Clary was even awake, to go for a run, because it had been a while since he had. When he got home, Clary was just leaving, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as she flew out the door, only wearing one shoe, the other in her hand, and a muffin clutched in the other hand. He had a follow up meeting with the travel agency he had shot a video for, and they'd asked him to do another shoot in a few months time, which was good. He'd gone back home to do some editing, which was when Sebastian had come to meet him. They hadn't done anything other than eat and watch some TV, Jace taking a break from work for a few hours. He had text Clary when he was leaving the house to go into the city, and she had only been a block away from him, so she had met up with him and wished him luck for his interview and given him coffee.

Sebastian and Clary.

Clary and Sebastian.

Jace had a lot of feelings that he was still trying to work through.

It had been about four and a half months since he and Sebastian had first started fooling around and it had been just over a month since there had been the... _Disagreement_  between himself and Sebastian over Clary. Jace classed it as a fight in his head, but he knew it wasn't, it had been a disagreement.

Jace still didn't know what he wanted.

Sebastian didn't push him, and in a way that helped, but in another way it didn't.

He appreciated that he didn't push it because Jace was still trying to figure out everything himself, and he hadn't put any of his feelings for Clary into words yet, to  _anyone_ , muchless to a man that he was falling for very quickly. But on the other hand, part of him wished that Sebastian  _had_  pushed it...Because, well, everyone liked it when someone fought for their attention and love.

But last night, Sebastian had mentioned a third option, kind of.

They had been at Sebastian's place and they had been in the bathroom. Sebastian was buried deep in his ass and Jace's hands had been braced against the bathroom vanity, his head hanging forward as his thighs shook and and his hands were slowly slipping forward on the vanity unit. Sebastian had wrapped a hand around Jace's cock, his hand covered in lube and making an obscene squelching noise as it began moving quickly, fingers curled tightly around his cock. Sebastian bit down at his shoulder, thrusting his hips forward, filling Jace and making him groan wantonly, and then he hissed into his ear,

"Your cock is so wet." Jace groaned at that, his ass tightening. "It feels so wet, like it's been buried in Clary's cunt." It had completely taken Jace by surprise and he had come abruptly all over the vanity unit.

They hadn't talked about it after they cleaned up, and then when Jace said goodbye to head back home, and then when they had seen each other today, they still hadn't talked about.

And Jace had spent the whole time since then, nearly twenty-four hours now, trying not to be hard.

But now he was home, and he was alone, and even though he was tired, after he stripped out of his clothes and stepped into the shower, his cock was so hard it was impossible to ignore. Jace scratched his fingers over his lower fingers and down his thighs for a moment, enjoying the tingles that ran through his body as he leaned against the tiled wall underneath the shower head. Then he looped two fingers loosely around the base of his cock and jacked himself slowly.

It didn't take long for him to get to the point where his toes were curling and he could feel his orgasm curling a the base of his spine. The water kept on falling over his shoulders and down his chest, and Jace reached down blindly, picking up the first bottle that his hand reached. He flipped open the lid as he lifted it and poured some onto his hand before he realized what it was that he was holding. It was Clary's body lotion, a citrusy one, and as he wrapped his hand around his cock again and the lotion began the bubble, the scent filled the shower, and it just smelt intensely of  _Clary_.

Clary and her smooth skin.

Sebastian and his rough fingers.

Clary and her soft sighs.

Sebastian and his throaty grunts.

Jace wasn't even sure  _which_  one he was thinking of when he came with a moan, his come mingling together with the citrus smelling bubbles and covering his hand.

Both of them.

Together.

 _All_  of them—together.

That was definitely where his mind went.

Jace sighed as he leaned his head back against the tiles.

* * *

The next morning, Jace woke up naturally, rather than to an alarm. He usually woke up around eight o'clock, more of a morning person than an evening one, but he must have slept in later than usual because the sun was fully streaming through the gaps in his curtains when his eyes finally opened. Jace sighed, rolling over and picking up his phone and wrinkling up his nose when he saw that it was almost ten in the morning. He rubbed his hand over his face and got out of bed, tugging on a pair of sweatpants over his briefs and stepping out of his room. As soon as he stepped out, he realized he wasn't the only one at home, because BLACKPINK was playing.

Usually that meant that Clary was on a cleaning or baking spree, because she liked bouncing around to the music. Jace definitely preferred the baking spree, but it had been a while since they had had a big clean of the house. The last time they had decided to deep clean, Clary decided that they should drink as well, and they had finished off a whole bottle of tequila and only finished the lounge and kitchen, not even starting down the hallway.

Jace scratched the back of his neck and he walked down the hallway, blinking when he heard voices coming from the kitchen. He considered going back to his bedroom to throw on a shirt as well, not sure who it was who was there, but then he recognized the voice and he sucked down on the corner of his lower lip.

Sebastian.

It really  _shouldn't_  surprise him all that much, because recently, Sebastian and Clary had been getting on well and the three of them had started to hang out quite often, but there was just something that struck a chord inside Jace every time he saw them next to each other.

"You're awake!" Clary cried out as Jace came through the doorway. "Oh my god—we can turn the music up more now!" Sebastian grinned from where he was standing in front of the sink, his hands covered in bubbles.

" _You_  turn it up! My hands are wet!" He protested playfully.

"My hands are covered in dough!" Clary protested right back before turning her head to look back at Jace and gave him a grin, wiggling her eyebrows. "Can you turn it up, sleepyhead?" She asked and Jace rolled his eyes before heading through the kitchen and into the lounge, towards the sound system. Clary's phone, encased in it's bright pink and silver case, was plugged into the speakers, and he tapped in the passcode before scrolling through her Spotify playlist. "Hey!" Clary called out. "I know you're changing my music!" Jace just grinned as he tapped his thumb down on a Post Malone song and only then turned the sound up. "Bastard," she muttered without any malice in her voice. "We were  _listening_  to that!"

"And now you're listening to this," Jace smirked at her, his body still feeling a little sleepy, and he knew that even though it was intended as a cheeky smirk, it was probably more of a sleepy smile. Clary was in a good mood, so instead of insisting he change the music back, she just went back to needing to the dough on the bench top.

"We're making scones," Sebastian stated, although he sounded a little uncertain as he made a face behind Clary's back was the dipped her hand into the flour and and scattered some more over the bench so that the dough didn't stick and tear. "And we've already made cupcakes—"

"And a raspberry and lemon cheesecake!" Clary grinned and Jace's eyes lit up.

"My favourite!" He came around the bench and into the kitchen, leaning forward to give her a kiss on the cheek. Clary just smiled back at him before beginning to roll out the dough. Jace moved over to Sebastian, who was finishing up the dishes, putting the last plate in the dish rack. Jace handed him a dry dish towel so that he could wipe his hands, and then wrapped his arm around Sebastian's waist, leaning his cheek against Sebastian's shoulder.

"Does she do this a lot?" Sebastian stage-whispered to Jace.

"Sometimes it's cleaning, sometimes it's cooking, sometimes it's baking, sometimes it's sewing—I woke up one morning and her and Magnus had the whole lounge in a complete tip with fabric and shit, making about a hundred dresses," Jace had a charmed look on his face as he stared at Clary's back, at the curls of her hair that were bouncing around her shoulders. "She doesn't do things half-assed."

"It wasn't a hundred dresses. Don't exaggerate," Clary replied, and she was swaying her hips a little, tipping her head from side to side, humming as she finished rolling out the dough. She rolled her eyes as she turned around to the look at the two boys. "You're such a drama queen, Jace," she told him, scrunching up her nose at him.

"It  _looked_  like a hundred dresses," Jace mumbled against Sebastian's shoulder and the taller man snorted.

"Oh!" Clary's whole body jerked, as though she had been electrocuted. "Oh my god, you're both here—I can tell you about the present!" She practically ran out of the room, not seeming to care that she was covered in flour up to her elbows, with bits of dough on her fingers. Sebastian snorted again, and he rested his hip against the bench, turning his body outwards a little to accommodated for Jace's weight against his.

"She's one of a kind," Sebastian mumbled.

"Damn right," Jace laughed. They heard footsteps coming back down the hall and then around the corner to the doorway of the kitchen.

"Okay!" Clary had an excited look on her face, her eyes wide and glittering, and one hand tucked behind her back. "So, this was actually something that came up, like, two days before I ran into Sebastian and we talked about his birthday," Clary was wiggling her shoulders in the adorable way that she did when she was excited. Or before she ate something that she really liked. "And I had been trying to work things out after I found out before I told you, but then when Sebastian came along, I had an even  _better_  idea and—"

"Clary?" Sebastian was looking at her, one eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Right, okay," Clary nodded. "Sorry, I'm just so  _psyched_! This is going to be awesome!" She pulled her hand out from behind her back and started waving whatever it was in front of their faces.

The problem, of course, was the fact that she  _was_  waving it, furiously.

So quickly that neither of them could see what it was she was trying to show them.

"What are you—" Jace cut himself off as he managed to grab her wrist and stop her from shaking what was in her hand. "Tickets?" He frowned at her as he finally saw what she was holding.

"Tickets to _Las Vegas_!" Clary squeaked, thrusting them forward properly so that Sebastian could see them as well.

"You brought us tickets to Vegas for my birthday?" Sebastian asked, sounding a little shaken.

"Well," Clary shrugged her shoulders. "Kind of. I mean—yes. I brought you and Jace tickets to Vegas, but my one was already paid for." Jace looked confused as he skimmed over the tickets, and saw that they were going for four nights. "But the reason that we're going to Vegas iiiiis..." she dragged out her word, doing more wiggling, and then struck jazz hands. "SFC!" Jace's eyes widened, while Sebastian just looked more confused.

"What's SFC?" He asked, while Jace lunged forward and threw his arms around Clary's shoulders. Clary squealed and hugged him back, the pair of them bouncing together. Even though Sebastian was confused, he couldn't help but grin, because he loved it when Jace loosened up like this, and it was usually around Clary that he did. When they finally broke apart, they both turned to him, to fill him in.

"SFC," Jace stated, clutching the tickets in his hands. "Sunflower Carnival in Vegas. It happens once every five years. It's this massive music festival in the dessert, and it's a fucking carnival and there's fireworks and there's so many people and the whole thing is just like—like an insane psychedelic experience."

"Probably because so many people are  _on_  psychedelics," Clary grinned and then gave Sebastian an expectant look.

"So..." Sebastian licked his tongue over his lower lip and tilted his head to the side. "You brought us tickets to go to Vegas, to go to a music festival?"

"You only turn twenty-eight once, right?" Clary stepped forward and jabbed Sebastian in the side lightly a couple of times with her fingers. Sebastian couldn't help but smile, and Jace stepped up to his other side, his eyes glowing, obviously  _very_  excited. "Besides, the tickets to the actual carnival are paid for, because they hired me as one of the freelance photographers. I was just sorting out extra tickets, that's what I was waiting for before I could tell you guys."

"You're into this...Right?" Jace sounded uncertain from Sebastian's lack of response.

In all honesty, it wasn't Sebastian's type of thing. He didn't drink, he didn't do drugs, and that was what a lot of these people did. He always played the security and the one keeping other people safe when they were in environments like this.

 _But_.

Jace and Clary would be there, and it would be a completely new experience, and Clary had gone out of her way to get him this gift that was probably one of the most thoughtful and definitely the most fun gifts he had ever gotten.

"It sounds incredible," Sebastian answered honestly, and Clary let out a squeal while Jace just grinned, and Sebastian ended up with his arms around both of them, pulling them in for a threeway hug.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think :)


End file.
